7 Ways to Establish and Protect a Pleasurable Creative Practice Amidst Life's Possibilities and Responsibilities

For the Worldbuilders Ep. 057

Adventures in Paradise is the third studio album by Minnie Riperton issued in May 1975 by Epic Records. On the album cover photographed by Kenneth McGowan, Minnie is seen sitting serenely next to a lion with baby’s breath in her afro, in front of an aqua blue background.

Dear Worldbuilder,

This isn’t an ableist episode full of executive function guilt tripping but it is an episode in honor of Virgo Season asking what are our systems, processes and practices for getting shit done and feeling good while doing it? I’ve been there, the over-extended teacher inspiring a classrooms worth of epiphanies but too tired to go home and fill the cup from which the curriculum flows. Maybe you’ve been there too, the over-extended teacher with a depleted capacity for your own curiosity. The healer with an over-committed calendar leaving no time to tend to your own spirit. The community organizer growing exhausted from the demands of parasocial relationships while your closest, most nourishing relationships suffer. How might checking in with our longings, our boundaries, our needs and nurturing a relationship within ourselves — where we’re allowed to want, to desire, to create, to rest — cultivate more secure attachments and relationships that extend beyond the scale of self?

Inside The Episode We…

1️⃣ Give ourselves permission to slow down and remember to actually practice our system of values, not just talk about it. Sometimes we don’t need to slow down to speed up, sometimes we need to slow down to listen up.

2️⃣ Imagine the creative decisions that might emerge from the practice of small, incremental acts of faith re-allocation away from speculative economic systems designed for our death and toward speculative worlds that support life.

3️⃣ Cultivate a gratitude practice through regularly taking stock of and invoking the names of our support system and the prayers already answered.

4️⃣ Commit to a cadence of releasing and receiving. We remember the concept of reciprocity is not a controversial topic, it’s a fact of life.

5️⃣ Invite eachother to plant a Daily Seed. Daily Seeds are for the interdisciplinary worldbuilders who learn and create through multiple modes of interlocking expression.

6️⃣ Carve out ritual and ceremony. A deep, deep honoring that may require too much time and space to weave into the shuffle of daily life.

7️⃣ Create pleasurable portals for tenderly meeting our procrastination. This approach might be my favorite and it’s inspired by a question fellow worldbuilder and Seeda School Alumni Elliott Silverstein of

Archive Feverdream

asked in a recent meet up.

Tune into the 57th episode “7 Ways to Establish and Protect a Pleasurable Creative Practice Amidst Life’s Possibilities and Responsibilities” on the podcast For the Worldbuilders via Spotify or Apple Podcast.

Then come back and let us know what you think! Did I miss anything? 🕯️

Until next time…

So be it, see to it, breathe through it,

Ayana

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📰 Seeda School News

📋 Seeda Studio is accepting applications for the Fall 2024 Implementation Accelerator. This offer is for you if you want to join us in the upcoming Fall 2024 Retreat and work 1:1 with me on implementing the pleasure practices and web portals that will support you in setting up the tech/sales backend and frontend infrastructure for inviting folks into your creative offer by the end of the year.

⛰️ This Saturday, September 14th, at 12pm EST I’ll be teaching a writing workshop inside Landscapes, a writing group for all genres organized by

Cody Cook-Parrott

! Of course we’ll be talking about and doing all things worldbuilding. Of course I can’t wait.

👥 On September 18th, Seeda School alumni Giada will be hosting her free Regenerative Vision Workshop for values-driven entrepreneurs and leaders. It was a pleasure working with Giada inside the retreat and I’m sure the impact of her care will be felt inside her 1:1 coaching. Join to learn more about her work!

🌱 If you are a Seeda School Alum with some exciting, upcoming invitations you want to share with the worldbuilding web we’re tending to please reach out and I’ll share it in an upcoming newsletter.