☀️ A Practical Way to Reclaim Your Creative Energy This Summer

[0:29] Hey there! How are things going? I am quite excited and also a bit nervous because today the door is officially open for Joyful Impact Summer Camp, and I will tell you more about it in the final part of this episode. But if you are already curious about how the camp will help you reclaim your creative joy this summer and get you feeling a flutter of excitement and inspiration to dive back into your creative work in the fall, just check out the camp link in the show notes. You will find all the details on my website. Okay, let’s dive into today’s topic, starting with a quick recap of the two previous episodes. Two weeks ago, we explored the exploitation loop, a pattern where you push yourself so hard that you reach exhaustion and then have to pause completely to recover then regain some energy but sleep back into that cycle again.

[1:33] Which is something you can usually notice in late summer when you tend to feel, you know, at the brink of that exhaustion and wonder how you will ever be able to move your business forward through the rest of the year. And then last week, we talked about how we can interrupt that pattern, that exploitation loop by reclaiming joy. And why joy? Because joy is the essential nourishment for your creativity for your impacts and of course for your personal well-being, so reclaiming joy is how you make sure your work remains a source of life and inspiration rather than a drain on it, and this is how you can enter the fall excited inspired energized and with your creativity and capacity replenished.

[2:30] We also discussed how reclaiming joy looks different for each of us and how sometimes, especially when we are feeling overwhelmed or disconnected, we might need guidance in that reclamation. And that guidance, at least the one I am envisioning and creating for you, is rooted in one specific tool, one we talked about often, your personal compass. And today we will explore how the personal compass can support you in detail and how it shows up in the joyful impact summer camp so you get an idea of a practical application and might start experimenting with it right away.

[3:15] Okay, so in my view your personal compass is your inner guidance system for navigating your business, your creative work, and everything else, actually. It is not a rigid plan or structure. It’s your decision-making framework for aligning actions with your inner truth. And it’s a living tool in that it evolves with you. When things feel complex, it helps you orient toward what’s true for you, rather than what feels urgent or rather than external demands, for example. Basically, trusting your compass means returning to yourself as your primary authority for your own decisions. It means both nurturing and rooting into your sense of agency. So, we just said that your personal compass helps you orient your decisions and subsequent actions toward, quote-unquote, what’s true for you. And what’s this?

[4:28] Well, it’s about your values, your principles, your inner wisdom, you know, what guides you in life. And how can the personal compass help you find your way in alignment with that? Well, it does that through four key elements. Four nonlinear stages, if you want, that I identified with verbs, so they’re easy for you to use in your day-to-day. Okay, here they are. Tune in, where you listen inward to notice what’s alive inside and around yourself, Sort out, where you clarify what matters, what can be let go and what’s getting in the way Replenish, where you take time to assess and honor your energetic, creative and capacity needs, And step forward, where you define your next steps and walk them.

[5:25] Now, I’ve been reflecting a lot on how I could make this framework easier to understand and remember, you know, something that can help you visualize it better than a diagram. And at first, I tried to use the parts of an actual compass to craft a useful metaphor, but, you know, it ended up overcomplicating things. So it took me a while to find language that worked, but in the end, I believe I crafted something that can truly help, even though it deviates from the compass image. So to illustrate how the personal compass framework works, we will talk about the pond model. Bear with me, please.

[6:13] Okay, picture a small pond. There’s the water, of course. Then deep down, there’s the bottom mud. And on the surface of our pond, there are three stepping stones. Now, the bottom mud represents your values, your principles, your inner wisdom. It doesn’t shimmer visibly, but it anchors the entire pond ecosystem. The water, with all its nutrients, is the replenish stage of the Personal Compass framework. It nourishes continuously and makes the stepping stones make sense and exist. The three stepping stones are the other three stages of the framework. Tune in, sort out, and step forward. The whole pod is your personal compass.

[7:08] Now, visualizing the pond helps us understand that the stages are not necessarily sequential. You know, ideally, one would step on tune in, then sort out and finally step forward. But life doesn’t move in straight lines, so you might need to step forward before you’re sure if it feels right. And then maybe go back to tune in or sort out. And in any case, going back and forth is key to moving forward to some kind of intention, achievement or goal, while also keeping listening inward to check in if you still want to go that direction and sorting out to notice what’s getting in the way. Like in a, you know, ongoing feedback loop.

[7:53] Plus, by visualizing the pond, we notice that replenish is not a stone or stage like the others. It’s the water beneath and around all reflections, decisions, and actions. It’s what makes the other stages possible. It’s what helps you regenerate your creativity and capacity, avoid burnout, and build whatever it is that you want to build. Well, this framework is exactly what guides the activities we will do in Joyful Impact Summer Camp in August.

[8:30] In week one, we will tune in by crafting your field guide to identify what brings you joy and start drafting the direction you want to go in the fall. In week two, we’ll keep tuning in by noticing what’s already here bringing you joy and putting together your observation journal. In week three, we will sort out by crafting your foraging pocketbook to, identify poisonous plants, quote-unquote, like, you know, disempowering thoughts, beliefs, and conditionings, and medicinal plants. For example affirmations or permission slips etc, and then we’ll put the most relevant medicinal plants into your foraging basket to make sure you truly allow yourself to make more room for joy, finally in week four we will step forward by mapping the direction you want to go toward and your next steps.

[9:33] And as the names might suggest, I am designing these activities to feel playful, so they help you replenish your creativity throughout the whole camp. This way you’ll get to the fall with your creative well bubbling with inspiration, and will be excited to dive back into your creative work. You will leave not just with exercises, but with renewed trust in your own ability to make creative decisions and run your business. Now, allow me to share some more details about Camp so you can consider whether you want to join. It will open on August 10 and close on September 4. It will happen mostly asynchronously on Signal plus two live calls, which I believe is just the right amount to connect and have fun together without overwhelming yourself with too many Zoom meetings over the summer.

[10:31] I will be sharing materials and exercises and resources every Monday on Signal, so you have the whole week to explore and enjoy them at your own pace. And of course, you will have lifetime access to them, so you can revisit them anytime your inspiration and creativity need a boost. I will also touch base with you throughout the week to make sure you don’t get lost along the way and actually take time to sit with the exercises, Plus, I will be available for questions, for reflections and chats in our signal group which will also be a welcoming space to connect and to share with your cozy circle of fellow explorers.

[11:20] Now, if the pond and the framework we talked about today resonate, the camp offers a container to practice all of this together. I truly hope you will join us. You can check the link in the show notes for, you know, all the details and the registration form. But before we part ways, let me share a question that can help you start using your personal canvas and see where it leads you. On which stone do you feel called to step this week? Okay, thank you so much for spending some time with me today. We will talk soon.