This book The Artist's Way: A course in Discovering and Recovering your Creative Self by Julia Cameron is probably up there as my favourite book of all time (in the self-help genre, it's too difficult to actually choose one favourite... there are too many magical books out there).

Essentially, it's a 12 week course that helps you lean into your own creativity. It's a masterclass in self-care and letting go of self-censorship too.

If you can stick with it - it's was a 7-10 hour weekly commitment for me, although she has adapted ones for parents and other groups that may have other considerations about how they could take part - it's a transformative opportunity to let more play and fun and joy into your life.

This epsiode is about chronic pain and pain management.

I recently hired a chronic pain specialist and 1:1 coach, and although I didn't think I was going to have much to report on after only a few days - it turns out I do! I've had a leg injury for 8 years that has never totally healed and for the first time in a long long time, if not since before the accident I've been having moments of shock that the pain is gone.

I hope this technique, that Anna calls 'the Pain Buster' works for you too if you're suffering from chronic pain!

All credit for the method in this episode go to Anna Fryxelius. You can find links to all here things here: https://linktr.ee/Fusionette

If you want a little sunshine of inspiration and actionable tips to improve your climate change work every single week, sign up to my email list. 

I have finished my coaching certification!

I am now certified with the ethical coaching collective! And I want to explain what the ethical standards we were taught and are expected to uphold :)

https://bestfuckingcoachingcourse.com/ethical-coaching-collective/

What did you do for Earth Day this year? Did it leave you lighter, buzzing, ready to take on the world?

No? Me neither. I thought being surrounded by others that are worried about the climate crisis and wanting to see changes would be energising, but this time it wasn't. This isn't an uplifting episode... it's hard to feel like 'enough' is ever happening. Short of governments starting to enact 'radical' degrowth policies, I'm not sure what would be.

If you were also disappointed that tens of thousands attended a march in London and it hardly made headlines, I feel you.

I was speaking to one of my clients recently who told me they wondered, 'how do you do it all.'

I think they meant it as a compliment, but it did worry me a little that I give off a sense of working all the time and wanted to offer this little reminder that a lot of what people 'see' in terms of me having a podcast, a newsletter, coaching clients and writing outputs from my research, I have intentionally spent years at finding ways to do them that energise me.

If you too are watching other people putting their stuff out in the world, and feel a pang of exhaustion trying to imagine yourself in the same position, this episode might be just what you need.

Here's your permission slip to have more fun, create more gaps in your calendar, and do something nice for yourself!

Another one of my favourite productivity books, Do Less: A Revolutionary Approach to Time and Energy Management for Busy Moms by Kate Northup.

It's for more than moms and its a book I keep coming back to over and over because of Kate's step by step practical guide as well as the mindset shift.

The book offers some big steps to learning to ask for help, prioritise yourself and communicate better about your needs and supporting others.
🥚 wisdom is also a fav concepts: letting things come to you, rather than chasing after that sperm 😅

If you ever find yourself repeating that 'it's too difficult' one of the best antidotes I've found is asking 'is that true?' and 'is that thought serving me?'

Telling ourselves that something is impossible or too challenging, may feel true, but you may be letting it get in the way of doing something that you really do want to believe is possible for you!

When you notice yourself repeating 'it's too difficult' or 'I don't think I can do that,' check in and ask yourself, 'is that true?' Just stop and wonder if there is a possibility that you can do that. Or that someone else might find that easy. Get curious about how that might not be true.

This quote in particular captures some of the essence of that, stop worrying so much about having an impact and what you should do and ask yourself what you really enjoy doing:

“Perhaps your particular contribution to a world facing multiple crises isn’t primarily to spend your time pursuing activism, or seeking electoral office, but on caring for an elderly relative, or making music, or working as a pastry check, like my brother-in-law, a strapping South African you might mistake for a rugby player but whose work involves concocting intricate structures of spun sugar and butter icing that detonate small explosions of joy in their recipients. The Buddhist teacher Susan Piver points out that it can be surprisingly radical and discomfiting, for many of us, to ask how we’d enjoy spending our time.”

How would you enjoy spending your time? The answer to that question might be a good one for how you might use your time best.

In time you might find it aligns beautifully with your concerns about climate change.

Welcome to a special episode this week as I let you in on some of my 'climate triggers' - the things I see that can send me into rage and despair about the climate emergency- and then a way to process these emotions - by mapping across sub-modalities in your brain, it's really fun - to reframe these feelings and thoughts into more useful action.

Whether it's peat hags or rising sea levels or people not recycling, I'd love to hear what your climate triggers are and how you've reframed moments of fear and frustration into positive actions in your community.

If you want to know more about peatlands and peat degradation in the UK. Also look up these crazy images of Holme Fen - a peatland in the UK that lost 4,000 years of peat (because it takes a 1,000 years to develop 1 meter) in 173 years!

I used to not 'get' affirmations, I thought they were a bit bullshit until week 1 of the Artist's Way. In this episode, I share tips and tricks on how to use affirmations effectively.

If you don't catch the gremlins they can bring up or gaslight yourself into overly ambitious statements, sure they're bullshit.

But if used with care, affirmations can be a powerful, shorthand to get you in a resource state.

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