The faith of an inventory practice

I find that when we do not answer the call to our art, our business ideas, the visions of our projects, our sacred hobbies, or our passions, we start to feel small and unlike ourselves. This could manifest in burnout, low self esteem, sickness, addiction, and different levels of spiritual hunger. We may heed the call or we may deny it, but whichever path we go down we will feel resistance, blessings, and something in between.

I woke up today feeling so blessed that God gave me the job of guiding people to make their art and put it into the world. In the last few years alone I have taught thousands of students how to access their creativity in new and profound ways. I share numbers transparently when I speak to my students because I want to remember my own growth and model what is possible. When we do Quilt Class show and tell or our wrap up session at Flexible Office I am completely blown away and sit with a huge sense of gratitude to have answered the calling of facilitating artists, writers, and true freaks in making their work and releasing it publicly, even when we’re scared to.

I wanted to build something out for everyone, that isn’t behind the paywall of a class, and is inspired by my recent teaching of The Shapes of Our Offerings. It is a three day email guide with a beautiful Notion dashboard called The Creative Ideation Portal. It is literally the exact method I use to get clear about what I want to turn my artistic attention toward, the organizing I do for the the back end of my projects, and how I conjure enough faith to set it free.

My morning pages and rituals of writing and gratitude lists are what keep me in the deep knowing of how this manifests and if I am in or out of bounds with my values. The pen to paper doesn’t lie to me about my alignment.

This week I forgot one of my daily rituals twice and I could feel how it affected my flow, my awareness of self, and my sense of gratitude. In some ways I think - sure fuck it I don’t need a sense of self every day. In fact, letting go of the need to be constantly in creation, in flow, and in a sense of awe helps me loosen the grip on life.

I am in a season where I can’t get enough of writing, making, inventing, sewing, dreaming, and visioning. It isn’t exactly translating to income but I am also trusting that it will in its timing. Many seasons of my creative practice the last few years have been riddled with avoidance and blocks and freezing up around the actual art of making, researching, and output, so this flow feels like a patient miracle.

In my writing and teaching I build systems and practices to share with others and can feel like an imposter when I can’t fully apply them to my own life, expecting consistency in the wake of a world that’s most reliable trait is inconsistency. There is a hope for something to stick, for something to keep making sense. I find the act of the inventory helps me get back to my center beam even when I don’t know what got me so far off.

I am learning to love each season, to trust each season, relaxing in the truth that it will shift back to a daze and then come back into a sharp focus. On a timeline I cannot always predict, but which I can learn to love. Building out your own portals of how to access the clarity of your desires is the foundation of faith in practice.

When I do a personal or professional inventory I come closer to the ease of letting the universe make the next move. When I throw self knowledge out the window I can also sit back and know that the universe doesn’t always need me meddling for the next miracle to happen. Miracles all around me, may you know them too.

CREATIVE IDEATION PORTAL + FLEXIBLE OFFICE

I created this for all the artists out there with so many ideas, distracted by their brilliance, unable to pinpoint exactly what to work on next and how to begin.

Next week we start a new round of Flexible Office, and this is the perfect way to prepare for joining or to see if it is the right fit for you. The portal also includes free co-working this Friday April 14

It is my hope this brings you closer to bringing your projects to the light, and that you craft accountability around making that cultivates joy in sharing with the people

POP INTO THE PORTAL

Flexible Office Spring/Summer begins again! Flexible Office is an experimental digital co-working space and is now ONGOING every Tuesday and Thursday for two hours at 8am PST / 11am EST - we begin a week from today with a visioning session on Monday April 17 on zoom (recorded for those who cannot make it live)
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My favorite artist to follow on the internet
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A post shared by Caroline Denervaud (@carolinedenervaud)
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