I Must Make It

Teaching freedom of mind is certainly the culmination of my 49 years on planet Earth. I was born into a mind-control environment, the child of a small-time cult leader and one of his followers. I experienced first hand the horrific price paid by those who give up their agency and minds to another. Hot tip- no one who truly cares about your spiritual growth, health, or basic welfare will ever demand you abandon family and friends and hand your brain over to dear leader. Once you’ve done it, you can be talked into doing just about anything.

It took me well into my 40’s to work through the predictable trauma that comes from such an upbringing. I managed to move away and build a life. Therapy definitely helped. Four years ago I took up meditation, and that practice created a profound shift in my awareness that I believe made me ripe for receiving this idea.

My varied careers in adult education, learning design, and general adventuring gave me the skills to make my “something” in a specific way. My time in tech taught me flexibility, that you can start with a minimum viable product (MVP) and iterate continuously. I had the tools and the inspo, I just needed a trail to get me there.

When bringing an idea to life, you’re rarely handed a complete path set out in front of you. You use the skills you have to get started, and learn new skills along the way. I started with a book draft. Those chapters have gone through numerous iterations already, and have transformed themselves into other things, like courses and videos. I listen to the ideas of friends, family and strangers, knowing new angles and ideas don’t only come from my precious head.

I try different things, see what resonates, and continue playing. I refine my approach and take time alone with my thoughts. And I follow the bread crumb trail, knowing as Zorana Ivcevic Pringle said, “Ideas do not come on stone tablets on a mountain, they come in rudimentary form.” 

The podcast is one such bread crumb gift, suggested by a visiting friend. His words hit my ears in reverb, and I sat silent, amazed the thought hadn’t ever crossed my mind. In search of podcast guests, I ended up at a neuroscience conference and met many brilliant researchers who kindly accepted my podcast invitation. Their work has opened my mind and hopefully those of my audience. I shaped my first season around their research, which focused on creativity. 

More breadcrumbs: a listener suggested I interview practitioners, to show how creativity research is applied in the real world. And so I did. Interviewing is hugely gratifying- in my early morning research, I found quickly that I was no expert on neuroscience, psychology or even art-making, so being able to share the work of experts while getting my questions answered is a win-win.

More breadcrumbs I’m currently exploring: share learning content differently. Connect researchers with practitioners they haven’t met. Shoot for the stars and invite my favorite authors on the podcast. Learn how to change general education requirements and try to make it happen. Figure out how to do all this for a living. 

I must make the thing. I am making it. And if this 49-year old suburban mom and cult survivor can do it, I feel confident you can do it too. Make space for inspiration to fall into your head, and hang onto it like the string of a giant balloon. It may carry you to places you never expected.