Audio Transcripts
MAKE ART, MAKE MONEY, MAKE LOVE
MY MONEY STORY
What does cash flow have to do with creative flow? What do our finances have to
do with fearlessly expressing ourselves in the world? Well, quite a lot actually.
In this audio training, I’m going to share insights from my own money story
with you. I haven’t always cherished my moolah, but once I really started to, my
creative potential expanded in volumes.
I read somewhere recently that the big difference between the business savvy
millionaires of past decades and the successful entrepreneurs of today, is their
intention behind amassing wealth.
Apparently - and I can definitely see evidence of this - there is an increasing trend
in the young entrepreneurial world to bring in the big dollars for the betterment
of society, rather than slapping down deposits on penthouses or splashing on
boats and zippy foreign cars. There has been a conscious swing towards making
money to make an impact, to influence positive social change and spark creative
revolutions.
And oh this makes me happy! This revolution speaks directly to my heart, and I
suspect, to yours too. This shift says to me that money matters and it empowers
me to give myself permission to believe that financial freedom and a sense of
abundance support powerful creative flow.
But first, let me try to explain just how far away this idea sits from what I’ve spent
most of my life believing about money.
Here’s my money story
At the core of it, I grew up with the belief that money is essentially bad. And
frustrating and restricting and confusing and it absolutely does not, does not buy
you happiness. I always believed that I’d never have enough.
“Money isn’t everything” was my mantra, which led to a trend of practices and
choices that landed me in all kinds of personal debt. I rolled credit card onto credit
card into personal loan onto credit card. I dimmed my light by deluding myself
that all this overspending was an expression of my infinite abundance. But let me
tell you, there is nothing expansive or abundant about mounting credit card debt.
Creative freedom does not lie in mindless shopping or avoiding your bank balance,
which I was doing plenty of.
But the interesting this, is that I’ve actually always been quite good at attracting
money. I’ve worked since I was 13, besides working for myself, I’ve been
unemployed only once (and that lasted about two weeks) and I seem to find
money everywhere I go.
But I’ve also always been quite good at attracting parking fines and cringe-worthy
phone bills and dodgy cars that set me back thousands in repairs. Sure, I had no
issues with it coming in, but I didn’t respect it enough to receive or retain it.
So while I tried to justify my debt to myself, the reality was that it was freaking me
out and holding me back. I wholeheartedly believe that debt is neither good nor
bad, but what matters is how you feel about it. Well, I felt terrible about it.
Struggling and stressing over paying my bills and my rent was taking up precious
energy; energy that could have definitely been used for far more revolutionary
endeavours. Kate Northrup puts it perfectly in her book Money: A Love Story:
Untangle Your Financial Woes To Create The Life You Really Want.
“Financial stress takes up bandwidth, period, and it makes it much harder to hear
your soul’s calling.”
Because no, money isn’t everything, but it is everywhere. Money is a stand-in for
what we value. It’s a means to exchange energy, so that we can live our lives the
way we want to live them. Money matters.
When I finally realised that the reason I needed to get my finances sorted was so
that I could align with my purpose, create without fear and express myself fully,
everything shifted. Learning how to value myself and my creative dreams and
desires became the driving force that saw me pay off well over $20,000 worth
of debt within 12 months and landed me in a position where suddenly, I had the
money to pay for more study and to take dance classes, to hire a business coach
and pay a professional designer to jazz up my eBooks.
Being free from debt and developing a healthy relationship with money has
positively impacted my relationships, my health and my business and it has
powerfully expanded my options for creative experimentation.
As I explained in Week 3, I decided to take an entire month off coaching in order
to fully devote to creating this course. And so, that meant a month without
that stream of income. It felt scary, but I knew it was possible, because without
monthly debt repayments I have an incredible amount of creative freedom and
space to take risks. It isn’t about the money itself, but about the time and space
that my money provides. Which of course, is priceless.
Of course, I’m not saying that you need to spend a small fortune to be creative.
There is a big difference between freaking out about money and having that stress
hinder your creativity and just simply not having a large amount of cash to splash.
In fact, the times in my life when I haven’t had a large pool of money to draw
from, have been some of the most creative and resourceful periods of my life.
Experiences like creating entire bodies of artwork as a broke university student
or starting a business from scratch or even just challenging myself to create
something without spending a cent, have forced me to find abundance outside of
my wage. It all comes down to mindset.
And we might have to remember this again and again, over and over. Even while
writing and creating this course, I found that the minute I started stressing about
the investments I was making in it and obsessing over how many people would
sign up, I’d lose my creative mojo. The minute I lost my trust, my faith and my joy
in my creativity, it became blocked. So set the intentions, build your budgets but
then learn to let it go. Creativity thrives in structure, not in stress. There’s a big
difference.
To wrap this audio training up, I’d like to leave you with this: Money stress and
struggle holds us back from expressing ourselves fully in the world. When we’re
freaking out about our finances, or forcing our creative expression to make
money for us, we’re using up precious energy that could be directed elsewhere
- say towards enjoying our creative projects and living our purpose. A healthy,
conscious and loving relationship with money opens the channels, it fills the well
and our capacity for creativity expands.
I believe that we have a responsibility to get our relationship with money sorted,
so that we can truly thrive. Radiating your light and expressing yourself fully - free
of financial stress - benefits not only you, but the entire world around you.
This is where the inner work really comes in. Examining our perceptions,
amplifying our self worth and shifting any old, stale beliefs about money that keep
us in a state of lack, is essential. We’re really going to be getting into this in the
workbook this week, so take action now by giving yourself some real time and
space to complete these exercises and do the creative dares. Don’t skip these
activities, OK? Promise yourself now that you’ll give them the attention they
deserve. Because as they say, you’re worth it.
And I’ll see you in the next audio, we’re we’ll take this conversation even further
with 8 Ways To Heal Your Relationship With Money.
8 WAYS TO HEAL YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH MONEY
In the last audio training you learnt why a healthy, conscious relationship with
your finances is essential to your creative practice. So here are 8 ways that you can
begin to develop a delicious relationship with money that amplifies your creativity.
1. Have faith.
Let me run an idea by you. If life is art and the creator of this Universe is the
greatest artist of all time, there’s a fair chance that this omnipresent force may in
fact want us to be creative, right? Which means then, that this force may actually
want to provide us with the resources that we need to create, and that of course,
includes money. As well as space, ideas, inspiration, people, places and so on.
I ask God to provide money and financial support in my prayers, in meditation and
in my journal. I write financial goals on Post Its and stick them under crystals on my
desk. I have an abundance altar. Money and God mix. Keep faith in a power that
wants to support - and fund - your creative expression. I also try to stay open to a
greater plan that I have zero control over.
2. Define what money means to you
At a gallery opening I went to recently, the founder shared in her thank you speech
that when we buy a piece of art, we’re not only buying that particular piece of
work, but we’re also buying the artist more TIME to create more art. We’re not
just handing them dollars, but handing them hours. Again, this example perfectly
illustrates the way in which money is simply a “stand in” for what we value.
So what does money provide for you? Perhaps it’s time, space, pleasures, joy,
relationships, expression, connection, health or fitness? Defining what money
means to you and the role that words like success, luxury and abundance play in
your life is key. We’ll explore this more in your workbook this week.
3. Spend your money on what you value
Are you spending your money on what you value? Are you using your money
as an expression of who you are and what is most important to you? Money is
such a delicious way to demonstrate and declare our deepest desires. If we want
something to grow or expand in our life - including our creativity - we need to be
focussing our attention, energy and resources there.
Honestly tracking your spending and looking back through your bank statements
is a wonderful way to check if you’re in alignment. Give yourself permission to
take that screen printing class you’ve been eyeing off, or invest in a new set of felt
tip pens and quality stationery. And at the same time, begin to pull back on the
purchases that don’t light you up.
4. Budget, baby.
It turns out budgeting is not a bad word. In fact, if done mindfully, using a budget
is an act of exquisite self care. A budget provides you with a tangible space to
honour your creative expression. Shift into the mindset that living within your
means and spending less than you earn, is neither limiting nor depriving, and begin
to honour your creative flow by making room for it. You might consider enlisting
the support of a financial advisor, accountant or bookkeeper, who can really help
you craft a budget and financial plan that works for you.
This week’s bonus tool is a spreadsheet I’ve created that you can use to get your
own budget happening; one that leaves lots of room to honour your creative flow.
5. Believe in yourself.
I’m just going to come right out and say it: I believe that a lack of money is often
a manifestation of a lack of belief in ourselves. Like any relationship in our lives,
our relationship with money is a mirror and it will reflect back to us what is or isn’t
working inside our heart of hearts.
I so often hear from people that they can’t afford to make art or follow their
dreams, but is it really about the money? Sometimes, we use money as an excuse,
a stand-in for the fear and uncertainty that we’re actually feeling. Yes, authenticity
breeds success, but we need to have self belief first in order to be truly authentic.
We need to value ourselves, our worth, our creativity and the resources that give
wings to our expression. In order to create without fear, we need to believe in who
we are and value our purpose in this world.
6. Learn to love money
You can love and value your creative work and you can love and value yourself, but
you also need to love and value money. If you know that you are good and worthy
and that you have something of value to share, but you believe somewhere, even
just a trace in your subconscious that money is bad or evil, then you won’t find
yourself with much of it. Like attracts like, and your beliefs about money will dictate
how much of it you are bringing into your life - and holding onto.
Expressing your creativity for a living is the dream, and you’d probably do it for free.
But how wonderful and honourable and life-expanding to actually receive money
for your creative expression and to be of service to others. Because charging good
money for good work from good people leads to great things.
7. Embody your version of abundance
There’s a lot of talk online these days about 6 or 7 figure businesses and abundance
has become a bit of a buzz word, right? So let’s crack it open a little more together.
It’s important to define what abundance means to you and how it feels. To me,
feeling abundant is all about overflowing and ever-replenishing. It feels limitless.
And this feeling opens the door to fearless creative freedom and expression. The
cool thing is, regardless of our current financial situation, we can tap into this
energy whenever we like.
Personally, I feel abundant when I’m sprawled on a patch of grass on a Wednesday
afternoon or when I have fresh flowers around my house. I feel abundant when
I’ve snapped up a piece of art from a second hand store. In fact, some of my most
treasured pieces of art in my house have been found on the side of the road or at
op shops.
I’m incredibly inspired by my clients and the diverse ways that they tap into their
abundant energy. Georgia ensures that there’s always a full fruit bowl in her kitchen,
while Amelia spends half an hour everyday reading financial books and educating
herself about money and I love the way Yolie withdraws and sets aside cash each
week for girly lunch time catch ups that bring her joy and connection.
Ruth makes a point of talking about her finances openly and honestly with her
partner, while Fran expresses gratitude for the luxurious things that money allows
her, like Lululemon leggings and great quality chocolate. Lauren transfers a tiny
amount of money into a savings account every single day to get into the ritual
and flow of saving and creating, rather than consuming. Abundance does not
necessarily mean extravagance. Give yourself permission to keep it simple and
sweet.
So for you, this might mean gifting yourself a gorgeous soy candle that you light
before sitting down to write, or buying a cute vintage tea set at the markets. It
might mean finding a sense of abundance by simply borrowing a book from your
local library and planting yourself under a shady tree to read it for an hour. Often,
spending no money at all is the most abundant feeling in the world.
8. Recognise your resources and support.
Being creative means being open to receive inspiration and insight and ideas, but
also to receive the resources that we require to fuel our creativity. This includes
learning how to recognise abundance in the form of money, compliments and
support, materials, time and space. The key is tuning in to what we already have,
because it is enough.
So take stock of what’s already available to you. Maybe you’ve received a
scholarship for your studies. Or you get discounts on art supplies or your suburb
has the most amazing verge side collection of secondhand goodies every few
months. Maybe it’s simply a free latte from the barista at the cafe where you sit
and write on the weekends or a couple of hours gifted from your partner once a
week to get to dance or life drawing classes.
A client of mine lamented one day that she was feeling guilty that her husband
was supporting her as she set up her personal training business. She’d quit her
full time job to focus on bringing her dreams to life, and while she was making
some money on her own, his income was far greater than hers. The thing was, her
husband was thrilled to be able to provide for her and through him, the resources
she needed to continue to create were available to her.
Similarly, my friend Hannah, a photographer, was surprised with return flights to
Europe from a family friend! While somewhat hesitant at first, she received the gift
with glee and gratitude, knowing that her photography and creative expression
would thrive after a few weeks winding around the galleries of Europe. It was
unexpected, out of the ordinary and ridiculously generous. But therein lies the
abundant, ever-replenishing nature of the Universe. And who are we to deny that?
You see, often when we ask for a miracle, we envisage some mysterious amount
of money to land in our bank account or to win the lottery or to suddenly triple
our client base overnight, but how about the miracles that are gifted to us in the
form of husbands and wives and thoughtful friends and neighbours, who are truly
angels in disguise?
But we pass these offerings back, exclaiming that “we couldn’t accept this”,
affirming that we don’t any need help, when in fact we do. We hold out for some
other offering that won’t involve us being vulnerable or humble and graceful
enough to say thank you, I mean it, really, thank you.
For even juicer expert insights on healing your relationship with money, make
sure you make some time this week to listen to my interview with finance expert
Sylvia Cherchia. And I’ll see you in the next audio, Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby. Oh,
this week is a fun one!
LET’S TALK ABOUT SEX, BABY.
And from here my friends, this is where things start to get a little more intimate.
We’re getting a little juicier, going a little deeper… We’re talking about sex.
At this point, you might be asking yourself: But what does creativity have to do
with sex? Or maybe you’re nodding or feeling intrigued, because the relationship
between the two does seem to make a sense to you.
Either way, wherever you are right now is perfect.
In the words of Marvin Gaye, in order to get a little sexual healing, I want to first
open this conversation by sharing my own story around sexual and creative
energy.
Here goes.
I’ve always had a strong sense of my own sexuality and sexual energy. As a little
girl, I loved touching my body and would often - and easily - bring myself to
orgasm. I was flirty and loved dressing up in my little knickers and crop tops
and doing pretend lingerie photo shoots in our backyard. My parents openly
discussed sex at home and I was comfortable using words like vagina and vulva
and testes before I had even hit a Sex Ed class in primary school.
And then somewhere along the way, shame started to make itself at home in
my sexual psyche. I began to form beliefs that sex was wrong and dirty. I felt like
I was the only one in the world who had these cravings and desires and while I
heard people speak about - and accept - the idea of boys masturbating, it didn’t
seem to be something that girls did. Particularly not good girls, which I totally
identified with being. I’d still touch myself and explore my sexuality alone, but
the minute it felt pleasurable or I’d reach orgasm, shame and guilt would follow
swiftly afterwards.
So what sparked this shame spiral?
Reflecting back, but without placing blame, I can see where my religious
beliefs and the teachings I was experiencing through our church planted these
seeds. I remember being about 17 years old, having not long lost my virginity
(to someone who wasn’t my husband) and being forcefully told how sinful sex
before marriage was. How even marrying someone outside of the church was
a sin. And I believed it. That felt true for me at that time and it caused deep
conflict within, as I pushed my sexuality further and further away. To me, sex and
God were polar opposites to one another. Sex was dark, chaotic and dirty and
God was light, peaceful and pure.
And I saw this divide reflected back to me wherever I looked. Sex was
obsessively glorified and worshiped in the media, yet at the same time, anyone
- particularly a woman - who sought sexual satisfaction was rejected by society.
In a blog post by author and teacher Regena Thomashauer, or fondly known
as Mama Gena, she writes “Basically, our culture still gives women only two
options: you can be a virgin, or a slut. And actually, the slut inside every woman
is the real virgin. That virgin is what gets the most air-time. We parade around all
day in our buttoned up corporate suits, or in sexless PTA meetings followed by
Mommy and Me classes, carefully maintaining a lack of sensual aliveness in our
daily lives… And when that sensual side of a woman is buried, her life force dies.
Every woman longs to have her sensual side live its full, vibrant expression.”
And on some level, even back then, I knew this to be true too. I knew sex to be
fascinating and pleasurable and expanding and healing and essential. Couldn’t
those words and feelings also describe the experience of God?
(Remember, you can replace the word God with whatever feels right for you,
OK?)
So as I went along my 20’s, I found intense healing in this arena in my long term
relationships. I found space within the love of men to explore the possibility
that sex could be sacred. That sex could exist between two people who loved
each other, without the wedding. My perception of God began to shift. And my
perception of myself and possibilities of self shifted even further.
Author and scholar Sera Beak mirrors this same curiosity in her awesome and
provocative book Red, Hot & Holy: A Heretic’s Love Story. She writes ’Perhaps I
too could be nurturing and funny… As well as ferocious and sexual and badass;
and these seemingly paradoxical characteristics did not divorce me from my
divinity, or my femininity.’
So let’s fast forward a tad.
Today, I can not only see the connection between sexuality and spirituality, but
I can feel the fact that in their very essence, they are one and the same. Invite
creativity into the mix and things start to get very, very interesting.
Energetically and physically, the collision of sexuality, spirituality and creativity
is a delicious and powerful one indeed. Not to mention important, particularly
for women.
I mean, if you think about it, what is more creative than sex? As women, we
create life in our wombs; the penetration and contribution from the masculine,
received by the feminine is the source of all divinity, the source of all life. What
could be more creative than making a human being, right?
In her book Wild Feminine: Finding Power, Spirit & Joy In The Female Body, Tami
Lynn Kent explains,
‘With the creative seeds of the ovaries and the gestational ability of the womb,
the female body contains unlimited creative potential (the energy potential
remains even if the organs have been removed). When a woman knows how
to access her root place, she finds the energy for building her creative dreams,
nurturing her creations, and changing the core patterns that diminish her
radiance… Perhaps the most powerful way you can increase pelvic energy flow
is to create while following your joy, providing a place for your feminine spirit to
play.’
Let me repeat that last part for you: Create while following your joy. Your
pleasure. Your passion. And where do we find these energies? In our sacral
chakra, the energy centre that is located in our lower abdomen. Sacral chakra
energy, pulsing around our womb and pelvic bowl, is both sexual and creative
energy. It’s all about experiencing life sensually, through feelings and connection.
It’s pure passion. And that is fuel for the creative fire. Fuel for a creative life.
As Persian poet Rumi croons ‘With passion pray, with passion make love. With
passion eat and drink and dance and play. Why look like a dead fish in the ocean
of God?’
Alright. So why do we block these powerful energies of passion and pleasure?
A pattern I notice in my clients is guilt around both sexual and creative desires.
What do we say when we’re indulging in pleasure? We tack the word ‘guilty’ in
front of it. Pleasure becomes a guilty pleasure. As if it’s wrong to engage our
senses. As if we need some kind of retribution for seeking joy.
But what if we let our guilt guide us? What if we lent in a little closer? What if
we allowed ourselves the space to explore our sexuality, our sensuality, our
creativity, our spirituality, as players on the same team? What if we allowed these
energies to enhance one another? The results might just blow our minds.
I loved reading a recent interview with author Alexandra Franzen in digital mag
Raspberry Magazine, where she described her experience of writing an erotic
novel right after falling in love, as if it simply ‘tumbled out’ of her; an experience
she’d never had as an author before. Sexual energy activated equals creative
energy flow.
So have I seen this play out in my own life?
You betcha. After coming off the contraceptive pill in 2013, not only did I
remember what it truly means to be ‘turned on’, but I also discovered I had a
lot of healing to do around my pelvic bowl, specifically related to a diagnosis of
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome or PCOS.
In this same year, I also entered into the healthiest and most satisfying romantic
and sexual relationship of my life. My connection to spirit and my own soul
increased. My creativity blossomed like it had not done in years. As I brought
more and more attention to my sacral chakra and embodying this surge of
sexual and creative energy, the words flowed, the ideas would spurt forth,
my confidence both sexually and creatively increased and I became intensely
fascinated with this connection.
I made the decision to lean in a little further, to explore and experiment. So blog
posts would take shape during a pole dancing class. Lighting candles and making
hip circles in the kitchen to sultry tunes formed the basis of my work breaks. I
read erotic fiction and watched erotic films with my partner and focussed on
creating nourishing, sensual experiences with him in a myriad of ways.
I began working with a coach myself to further unleash the sensual, erotic
woman within and added a rose quartz crystal wand to my self pleasure practice.
Yep, this all made me feel awkwardly self conscious and totally strange at times,
but remember what we explored in Week 1 about curiosity? We’ve got to lean
in and decide to no longer deny our desires. And we need to try something
different if we want things to change.
You are a sensual being. You are a sexual being. You are a creative being.
And I encourage you, beg you even, to explore your own energies and passions
and desires for pleasure in the realm of sexuality and creativity this week. And
every week for the rest of your life.
Embrace your wild woman. Let her out to play.
While this doesn’t necessarily mean screaming like a porn star or dancing naked
under the moon (although it might), in your workbook this week we’re going to
explore what embodying your version of wild sensuality looks and feels like.
In this week’s bonus training with Rosie Rees, we’re taking this conversation
even further by exploring your sacral energy and how we can activate this space.
We’re talking practical and actionable. Yum. I can’t wait to hold space for this
conversation in the Facebook group this week. Remember, this is a safe space to
share with one another. Shame free. We’re all in this together.