
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Selling something you created can feel deeply personal. How do you name your price without apologizing, follow up without feeling pushy, and hear "no" without questioning your work?
In this episode, I'm sharing practical lessons from my life as a working artist. I talk about the conversations behind a sale, why listening matters, and how someone's connection to a painting can be completely different from my own.
We also get into the mindset of selling: staying grounded before a conversation, giving people space to decide, and separating the outcome of a sale from how we see ourselves. Whether you sell paintings or another kind of creative work, I hope this helps you feel more comfortable sharing what you offer.
In this episode, I explore:
Chapters
00:00 Selling art and the mindset behind it
02:26 Helping people connect with your work
12:50 Saying your price without apologizing
20:52 Understanding client needs and personal stories
27:43 Following up without making it personal
32:02 Learning from rejection and hearing "no"
About Decoding the Flow
On Decoding the Flow, I explore the inner life of a creative person—and how we become capable of creating, holding, and expanding the work and life calling us forward. Through honest conversations and experiences from my own life, I explore creative confidence, self-awareness, and what it means to live from creation rather than reaction.
About Me
I'm Drica Lobo, a Brazilian-born artist, author, and creative mentor based in Southern California. My work brings together vibrant color, personal expression, and the belief that creativity reaches far beyond the canvas. Here, I share what I'm learning through painting, building an art business, and navigating life as a creative person.
Which part of selling feels hardest for you: saying your price, following up, or hearing "no"? I'd love to hear from you.
Subscribe to Decoding the Flow and share this episode with a creative friend.
Remember, you are the masterpiece.
DRICALOBO.com
Instagram: @dricaloboart @decodingtheflow
SUMMARY
What happens when you ask for more, and life starts revealing the parts of you that you may be avoiding, but are ready to expand?
We're celebrating one year of Decoding the Flow! In this solo episode, I'm sharing how dreaming bigger has brought me into a deeper relationship with creative confidence, self-trust, and the person I'm becoming.
As I prepare to leave my home and studio in Hermosa Beach, CA, after almost twenty years, I'm living through many of the questions we've explored together. I'm organizing a farewell exhibition, imagining new possibilities, and learning to take aligned action while clarity arrives in parts.
I talk about welcoming fear with compassion, observing my reactions, and allowing myself to receive support. I also share the spiritual perspective helping me navigate this transition: trusting that an unexpected turn can reveal something meaningful about my next chapter.
If you've been dreaming bigger and wondering how to move forward before you have the whole picture, this conversation is for you.
IN THIS EPISODE, I EXPLORE
• How dreaming bigger reveals new possibilities and places within us that are ready to expand.
• The connection between creative confidence, identity, and self-awareness.
• Welcoming fear and listening to what it brings up.
• Practicing neutrality and observing my experience before choosing a response.
• What trusting the universe, shifting timelines, and surrendering mean to me.
• Taking aligned action with the clarity available today.
• Allowing connection, collaboration, and support to be part of growth.
A QUESTION TO TAKE WITH YOU
What part is clear enough for you to act on today?
CHAPTERS
00:00 Celebrating One Year of the Podcast
02:14 Preparing to Leave a 20-Year Chapter in Hermosa Beach
03:28 The Deeper Layers of Creative Confidence
04:04 Dreaming Bigger and Expanding Possibilities
06:08 The Unlimited Nature of Growth and Possibility
08:00 How Asking for More Reveals Hidden Parts of Yourself
09:22 Facing and Integrating Fear
11:02 Inner Clarity and Self-Transformation
13:43 Maintaining Neutrality and Trust
15:40 Using Fear as Feedback
17:16 The Power of Meaning and Interpretation
18:20 Trusting the Universe and Surrendering to the Flow
20:11 Welcoming Fear and Emotions
22:09 Giving All Your Feelings Space
24:06 Participating Fully in Your Life's Co-Creation
ABOUT ME
I'm Drica Lobo, a Brazilian-born artist, writer, and creative mentor based in Hermosa Beach, California. Through my paintings, writing, and this podcast, I explore how creativity shapes our relationship with ourselves and the possibilities we allow into our lives. I share what I'm learning as I live it, inviting you to discover and trust your own creative power.
Thank you for being part of this first year. Remember, you are the masterpiece.
DRICALOBO.COM
Instagram: @dricaloboart ~ @decodingtheflow
Summary
I'm leaving the place I live after almost twenty years, and it's happening sooner than I expected. This is where I became an artist, built my studio, and found my community. This week, I sat at the beach and cried with gratitude, and realized how much my relationship with myself has changed.
I spent years looking outside myself for approval and reassurance. In this episode, I share how learning to stop judging my past helped me build the foundation I'm leaning on today. We talk about recognizing old patterns, asking for help, and creating opportunities while we're still figuring things out.
I'm also bringing you into the beginnings of my farewell solo show and Finding Creative Sanctuaries, an exploration of how I want to live and create in different environments. If you're facing a change yourself, I hope this conversation helps you recognize what you already have to lean on and choose a next step that feels possible.
Key Topics
About Decoding the Flow
On Decoding the Flow, I explore the inner life of a creative person—and how we become capable of creating, holding, and expanding the work and life calling us forward. Through personal stories and honest conversations, I invite you to explore creativity, identity, self-trust, and the relationship you build with yourself. Together, we look at what it means to live from creation rather than reaction.
About Me
I'm Drica Lobo, a Brazilian-born artist, writer, mentor, and former television reporter. I've spent nearly twenty years building my life and creative practice in Hermosa Beach, California. Painting has taught me so much about how I approach life, and this podcast is where I share those discoveries with you, including the questions I'm still living through.
You can explore my paintings, join my email list, and follow updates about the farewell show and what comes next at dricalobo.com.
Instagram: @dricaloboart @decodingtheflow
What happens when you worked incredibly hard to become someone, and then life starts asking you to become more?
In this deeply personal episode, Drica Lobo reflects on her identity as an artist after two unexpected comments from fellow creatives forced her to look at her own career differently. While Drica had quietly been wondering whether she had done enough with her paintings, other artists were looking at her as someone who had already "made it."
That contradiction opened up a much bigger realization.
After more than a decade of building a life around art, Drica begins to recognize how difficult it can be to expand beyond an identity you fought hard to earn. She looks back at her recent ten-year birthday retrospective, the strange sense that she was leaving something behind, and the grief that can accompany growth even when nothing is actually wrong.
This isn't about walking away from art.
It's about realizing that being an artist doesn't have to be the boundary around everything else you're allowed to become.
In this episode, Drica explores:Why other people's perception of our success can reveal what we refuse to recognize in ourselves
The difference between wanting more and dismissing everything you've already accomplished
Why her ten-year birthday retrospective unexpectedly felt like the end of something
The push and pull between her identity as an artist and the other parts of herself asking for more room
Why expanding beyond an identity doesn't mean you failed at it
The unexpected grief that can come from growing beyond something you deeply love
How an identity can become a limitation when we believe we must remain only who we fought to become
You can want more without making what you've already accomplished insignificant.
Growth doesn't always come from leaving something broken behind. Sometimes you're expanding from something you love, something you're proud of, and something you worked incredibly hard to build.
Acknowledging your achievements isn't the same as deciding you've arrived. Sometimes you need to recognize how far you've come before you can understand why moving forward feels so emotional.
An identity can be deeply meaningful without becoming the boundary around everything else you're allowed to become.
"I fought hard to become an artist. And I don't have to fight to remain only one."
Chapters00:00 — The Grief of Becoming More 01:07 — Two Artists Reflect Something Back to Me 02:22 — Have I Done Enough With My Art? 04:09 — The Voice That Keeps Moving the Finish Line 08:20 — Finally Acknowledging What I've Built 11:16 — Why My Birthday Retrospective Felt Like an Ending 12:59 — Realizing This Feeling Is Grief 13:47 — The Other Parts of Me Getting Louder 15:30 — This Isn't Really About Painting—It's About Identity 16:24 — I Didn't Fail at Becoming an Artist 17:41 — The Grief Inside Expansion 18:00 — When the Identity You Built Becomes the Limit
About Decoding the FlowDecoding the Flow explores the inner life of a creative person, and how we become capable of creating the work and life calling us forward.
Through honest solo conversations and interviews with artists, thinkers, and creative people, Drica Lobo explores creativity, identity, confidence, flow, and the inner shifts that shape what we create and how we live.
At its heart, Decoding the Flow is about creative consciousness: learning to create our lives instead of simply reacting to them, and becoming more capable of creating, holding, and expanding the life calling us forward.
About Drica LoboDrica Lobo is an artist, writer, author, podcaster, and creative mentor whose work explores creativity as both an artistic practice and a way of living.
After more than a decade building a career as a professional artist, Drica's work has expanded beyond the canvas into writing, teaching, mentoring, and conversations about the inner life behind creative work.
She is the author of Decoding the Flow: Optimize Your Creative Power with Unshakeable Confidence and the host of the Decoding the Flow Podcast, where she brings together lived experience, curiosity, and conversations about what it takes to create from the inside out.
Her work is rooted in one central idea: we can become active creators of our lives, rather than simply reacting to them.
Remember, you are the masterpiece!
DRICALOBO.com
Instagram: @dricaloboart ~ @decodingtheflow
What happens when nothing is wrong with your life… but something no longer fits?
After my birthday, I found myself looking backward and forward at the same time. But instead of focusing on everything I want to accomplish next, I started paying attention to the life I have already created.
And I had a quiet realization: I may have outgrown parts of my own life.
In this episode, I reflect on what it means to recognize that something can feel complete without being broken. I talk about honoring the dreams, choices, and previous versions of ourselves that brought us here—without feeling obligated to keep recreating them.
But the biggest question isn't necessarily, "What's next?"
Maybe we don't need to know yet.
I explore what happens when we resist the urge to immediately replace what we've outgrown and instead leave space for curiosity, discovery, and the unknown. Because not every ending needs an immediate beginning, not every curiosity needs to become a goal, and sometimes the most creative thing we can do is leave part of the canvas untouched.
Maybe the unknown isn't emptiness at all.
Instead it's possibility.
In This EpisodeWhy birthdays can become powerful moments of reflection
What it feels like to outgrow parts of a life you once deeply wanted
Recognizing when something feels complete rather than wrong
Why gratitude and the desire for change can coexist
Honoring your past without feeling obligated to recreate it
Why knowing something no longer fits doesn't mean you need to know what comes next
Resisting the urge to immediately fill the unknown with another plan
Choosing possibilities over probabilities
Allowing curiosity to exist without turning it into a goal or project
Why leaving space can be part of the creative process
The difference between being lost and leaving room for discovery
Why an empty canvas can represent possibility rather than emptiness
Outgrowing something doesn't mean it was a mistake.
Something can be complete without being broken.
Gratitude doesn't require permanence.
You don't need to immediately replace what you've outgrown.
Not knowing what comes next can create room for possibilities you couldn't have planned.
Curiosity doesn't always need to become productive.
There is a difference between being lost and allowing yourself to discover.
Sometimes the most creative next step is to leave space.
"Something feels complete. Not wrong, complete."
"Curiosity to me is the secret to a fulfilling life."
"An empty canvas isn't empty at all. It is just full of possibilities."
Chapters00:00 — Opening Reflection 00:14 — A Birthday and a Different Kind of Reflection 00:32 — Looking Backward and Forward 02:04 — Looking at What I've Already Created 02:39 — The Realization: I've Outgrown Parts of My Life 03:46 — The Life My Past Self Once Wanted 04:49 — Complete, Not Wrong 05:13 — Something Missing Doesn't Mean Something Is Broken 06:34 — Outgrowing Your Life vs. Escaping It 07:27 — You Don't Have to Outgrow Everything 08:08 — When the Right Path Stops Being the Right Path 09:27 — Gratitude, Curiosity, and Change 11:03 — Honoring the Past Without Recreating It 12:57 — Why I'm Not Rushing Into What's Next 13:53 — Making Space for the Unknown 14:24 — Releasing the Need to Control the Outcome 15:21 — The Unknown as Creative Space 16:21 — Possibilities Over Probabilities 17:00 — An Empty Canvas Is Full of Possibility
About the HostDrica Lobo is an artist, author, mentor, and host of Decoding the Flow. Through conversations about creativity, identity, self-awareness, and the creative process, she explores what it means to live from creation rather than reaction. Drawing from her own life and artistic practice, Drica approaches personal growth as an ongoing experiment—one rooted in curiosity, observation, and the courage to keep becoming.
DRICALOBO.com
Instagram: @dricaloboart ~ @decodingtheflow
What if you're doing everything right and still getting nowhere because you're trying to create a new life with an old identity?
In this solo episode of Decoding the Flow, Drica Lobo explores one of her favorite personal-development topics: self-image, the internal picture you carry of who you are, what you're capable of, and what you believe is possible for you.
You can change your habits, set bigger goals, learn new strategies, and work harder, but if underneath all of it you still see yourself as the same person, you may keep finding your way back to the same patterns.
Inspired by Maxwell Maltz's classic book Psycho-Cybernetics, Drica explores how our self-image influences our decisions, behaviors, and results, and how we can consciously create an identity that matches where we want to go.
In this episode, Drica shares her own 5-step process for upgrading your self-image, from recognizing the identity you're currently operating from to creating and embodying a new one.
You'll learn:
How your self-image influences your behavior and results
How childhood programming can shape the way you see yourself
The self-image concept behind Maxwell Maltz's Psycho-Cybernetics
How to recognize when an old identity is working against your goals
Why asking "Who do I need to be to achieve my goals?" can change everything
How to create a self-image script for the person you're becoming
Why recording your script in your own voice can be a powerful practice
How to use your actions as evidence for your new identity
The role of repetition, emotion, and embodiment in creating change
To help you take this beyond the episode, Drica created a free companion workbook that walks you through the 5-step process at your own pace.
Download the workbook below, grab a pen, and use it to create your own self-image script and begin consciously building the identity that matches where you want to go.
GET YOUR WORKBOOK HERE
Your past can give you information. It doesn't have to give you instructions.
You are allowed to update the image you have of yourself—and start creating evidence for the person you're becoming.
About the HostDrica Lobo is a Brazilian-born artist, writer, podcaster, and creative mentor based in California. Her work explores creative consciousness, the idea that we are not only creating art, businesses, or projects, but consciously creating ourselves and the lives we experience.
As the host of Decoding the Flow, Drica combines more than two decades of creative practice with personal experimentation, self-development, and an endless curiosity about how our thoughts, patterns, identities, and actions shape what we create.
Her philosophy is simple: your life is your greatest creative process, and one of the greatest things you will ever create is yourself.
DricaLobo.com
@dricaloboart ~ @decodingtheflow
RecommendedTo read: Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz
To watch: I Feel Pretty (2018)
Chapters
00:00 — The Power of Your Self-Image 01:59 — How Childhood Programming Shapes Your Identity 04:08 — Maxwell Maltz & Psycho-Cybernetics 07:02 — Identifying Your Current Self-Image 09:54 — Creating Your New Self-Image Script 12:55 — Who Do You Need to Be to Reach Your Goals? 17:06 — Collecting Evidence for Your New Identity 22:08 — Embodiment & Repetition 23:08 — Daily Self-Image Practice 24:06 — Your Past Is Not Your Instructions
What if the very thing we think limits our freedom is actually what creates it?
In this solo episode of Decoding the Flow, Drica Lobo explores her changing relationship with discipline—not as punishment, restriction, or forcing yourself into someone else's routine, but as a way of understanding yourself, protecting what matters to you, and becoming someone you can rely on.
Through personal stories about creativity, fitness, habits, and her own experiments with attention and routine, Drica explores how observing our patterns can reveal far more than judging them ever will.
The more you understand what supports you, the more intentionally you can choose it. And every time you follow through on what matters to you, you build something deeper than productivity: self-trust.
That self-trust eventually becomes self-reliance—and with it, a different kind of freedom.
This episode also introduces The Creative Patterns Experiment, a free 14-day workbook designed to help you observe your own focus, creativity, energy, and habits so you can discover what actually works for you.
Stop guessing what makes you creative. Start collecting evidence.
FREE DOWNLOAD: The Creative Patterns Experiment — A 14-Day Experiment to Discover What Makes You Feel Focused, Creative & Fully Yourself
Download The Creative Patterns Experiment
Chapters00:00 Introduction 00:12 Is Discipline the Opposite of Freedom? 01:01 How Structure Can Create Freedom 02:08 Reframing Discipline for Creatives 03:24 Discipline, Self-Control & Choice 04:00 What Fitness Taught Me About Discipline 11:07 Discipline and the Person You're Becoming 13:32 You're Already More Disciplined Than You Think 17:26 Start Treating Your Life Like an Experiment 20:49 Stop Guessing, Start Collecting Evidence 24:21 From Self-Trust to Self-Reliance & Sovereignty 25:13 Understanding Your Energy and Daily Patterns 26:02 The Creative Patterns Experiment 27:02 Discipline Supports Who You Want to Become
What if you haven't lost your creativity, you've just stopped giving it your full attention?
In this solo episode of Decoding the Flow, Drica Lobo explores what it means to get obsessed with your creativity again, not in an unhealthy, all-consuming way, but in the way that makes you excited to return to your work, think about your ideas throughout the day, and become deeply curious about what you're creating.
Drica shares what she's been noticing in her own creative life: how distractions can dilute our excitement, why waiting for inspiration may have the process backwards, and how giving something your full attention can actually create more curiosity, inspiration, and momentum.
She also shares how she's been priming her mornings before allowing the outside world in, creating clarity around what deserves her attention, and using time blocking to stay connected to multiple creative projects without giving everything only a fraction of her energy.
Because maybe you don't need another idea. Maybe you don't need more motivation.
Maybe your creativity just needs more of you.
In this episode:
Why attention creates obsession
How distraction dilutes your creative spark
Why inspiration can come after attention
Priming your morning for creativity and clarity
Staying focused when you have multiple creative projects
Using curiosity to deepen your creative practice
Why your ideas may be here to transform you first
Simple ways to reconnect with your creative self
About Drica Lobo
Drica Lobo is a Brazilian-born visual artist, writer, podcaster, and creative mentor based in California. Through her work and Decoding the Flow, she explores Creative Consciousness, the practice of approaching creativity not simply as something we do, but as a way of experiencing and creating our lives.
If this episode speaks to you, share it with someone who needs to get obsessed with their creativity again, and subscribe to Decoding the Flow for more conversations about creativity, flow, authenticity, and the art of creating your life.
DricaLobo.com
Instagram @dricaloboart ~ @decodingtheflow
Key Topics
The importance of attention in creativity
Morning routines for focus and clarity
How distraction dilutes creative spark
The role of curiosity in inspiration
Next steps approach to projects
Time blocking for multiple projects
The mental shift from waiting for inspiration to creating it
The significance of full attention in achieving goals
The transformational power of pursuing your passion
Reconnecting with your creative self
Chapters
*]:pointer-events-auto R6Vx5W_threadScrollVars scroll-mb-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom,0px)+var(--thread-response-height))] scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" dir="auto" data-turn-id= "request-6a7a1614-5104-83e8-ac14-3a2088d22f63-1" data-turn-id-container= "request-6a7a1614-5104-83e8-ac14-3a2088d22f63-1" data-testid= "conversation-turn-16" data-turn="assistant">00:00 — Get Obsessed With Your Creativity Again 01:54 — What Creative Obsession Really Means 03:53 — Are Distractions Killing Your Creative Spark? 05:57 — Attention Creates Obsession 07:49 — Priming Your Day for Creativity 10:04 — Attention Creates Inspiration 12:01 — Follow Your Curiosity 13:50 — Making Space for Multiple Creative Projects 16:06 — What Deserves Your Full Attention? 17:53 — Your Ideas Are Meant to Transform You 20:12 — Coming Back to Yourself 21:00 — How to Get Obsessed Again
_:empty]:hidden">How Following Curiosity Creates a Meaningful Life
SummaryWhat if the reason you haven't found your purpose... is because you've been looking for it?
In this solo episode of Decoding the Flow, artist, author, and host Drica Lobo challenges one of the biggest myths in personal development: the idea that purpose is something waiting to be discovered.
Drawing from her own creative journey, the teachings of Bashar, the timeless wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the philosophy of Creative Consciousness, Drica explores why purpose isn't a destination—it's something we create through curiosity, authentic choices, and the courage to take the next step without insisting on a specific outcome.
If you've ever felt stuck waiting for clarity before taking action, this episode offers a refreshing perspective on how following what genuinely excites you can become the compass that shapes a meaningful, creative life.
In this episode, you'll discover:• Why searching for your purpose can actually keep you stuck
• The difference between excitement and instant gratification
• What Bashar means by "following your highest excitement"
• How Ralph Waldo Emerson's philosophy mirrors modern ideas about intuition and flow
• Why fear often accompanies authentic growth
• How Creative Consciousness transforms everyday choices into a meaningful life
Purpose isn't something you find.
It's something you create—one authentic decision at a time.
About the Host
Drica Lobo is an internationally collected contemporary artist, author, speaker, and host of the Decoding the Flow podcast. Through her work, she explores the intersection of creativity, psychology, and spiritual wisdom, introducing the concept of Creative Consciousness, the idea that creativity is not limited to art, but is the way we consciously design our lives. Her mission is to help people reconnect with their authentic expression and become the masterpiece they were meant to create.
DricaLobo.com
Instagram: @dricaloboart ~ @decodingtheflow
Chapters
00:00 Introduction: Challenging the Purpose Myth
00:23 The Myth of a Waiting Purpose
00:44 Why Finding Purpose Can Keep You Stuck
01:20 Giving Up the Search for Purpose
02:16 Purpose as Exploration, Not a Destination
03:10 Following Curiosity and Excitement
04:21 Bashar's Teaching on Following Your Highest Excitement
05:52 Excitement as Information
07:00 Life as a Journey of Self-Discovery
08:55 Why Excitement Isn't About Comfort
11:57 Letting Go of the Outcome
13:37 Small Steps Create Extraordinary Lives
14:59 Trusting the Next Brushstroke
16:16 Purpose Is Revealed in Hindsight
17:09 A Better Question to Ask Yourself
18:07 Creating Purpose Through Daily Choices
18:17 Creative Consciousness and Everyday Life
Summary
What does it take to completely disappear into a character while becoming more yourself in the process?
In this episode of Decoding the Flow, I sit down with Brazilian actress Bruna Fachetti to explore creativity through the lens of acting. We discuss her one-woman adaptation of The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector, where Bruna brings six characters, and even Death, to life on stage in Los Angeles.
Beyond the performance itself, this conversation dives into authenticity, vulnerability, healing through the arts, and the creative courage required to trust the unknown. Bruna shares what it was like to perform in English as a second language, produce her own play, and surrender to the artistic process without attaching her worth to the outcome.
Whether you're an artist, entrepreneur, or simply someone learning to trust your own creative voice, this episode is a reminder that our greatest work begins when we stop performing for approval and start creating from authenticity.
About the GuestBruna Fachetti is a Brazilian actress, producer, and artist based in Los Angeles. Her work combines theater, storytelling, and healing through the arts, creating performances that invite audiences into deeper self-awareness and human connection. Her latest production is a solo adaptation of Clarice Lispector's The Hour of the Star, performed in English while honoring the spirit of one of Brazil's greatest literary voices.
@brunafachetti_oficial@thehourofthestar_play
About the HostDrica Lobo is an artist, author, speaker, and host of Decoding the Flow, a podcast exploring creativity, creative consciousness, and the psychology behind living and creating in flow. Through conversations with artists, entrepreneurs, scientists, and thought leaders, she uncovers the deeper patterns that help us become more authentic creators, and ultimately, the masterpiece of our own lives.
DricaLobo.com
@dricaloboart | @decodingtheflow
Key Takeaways00:00 Welcome & Introducing Bruna Fachetti 01:50 Discovering Clarice Lispector 04:00 Why The Hour of the Star Still Matters Today 06:00 Performing in English as a Second Language 08:30 Becoming Six Characters on Stage 12:00 Building a Production from the Ground Up 15:30 Creativity, Collaboration & Intuition 19:00 Authenticity Through Acting 24:00 Healing Through the Arts 29:00 Letting Go of Control 33:00 Flow, Growth & Creative Courage 38:00 Separating Self-Worth from Results 43:00 Vulnerability as an Artist 48:00 What's Next for The Hour of the Star
From the publisher's feed