Blisscraft Life With Christina Katz

Dig Deeper: The Evolution Of The World Depends On The Evolution Of You

by @thewritermama on October 27, 2017

How can we expect the world we see around us to evolve, if we won’t evolve?

The world won’t change until we change. And if we refuse to change, then the world is stuck.

We can do our part by turning within and digging deep to uncover the strengths we bring to the global table.

I say global table because we need to recognize that our lives have a ripple effect.

All the love and care I pour into raising my daughter has an impact on the future. When I raise her to be a thoughtful, brave and expressive individual, I am making an impact on the future.

And I mean in both the near future and in the future when I am no longer here.

I am cool with leaving behind a more evolved person than I was at her age. In fact, I am totally down with it, because let me tell you, if you think the world is not evolved right now, it was quite it bit worse when I was a kid.

When I write an article that makes the world even a slightly better place, I know I have made a difference. I really value all the skills I have developed and share with others that allow me to do this.

When I pour my best ideas and efforts into an online course that will positively transform a person’s life, I feel good about myself. I know that my work has impacted many and will continue to touch more lives thanks to all of my painstaking effort.

In order to be a healthy person in a pretty crazy world, I need to take good care of me, keep growing as a person, and look for ways to become wiser and more conscious — because this is what the world is desperate for right now.

Continuing education can play a part in all of this because our personal growth translates into evolution for all. We will know we are on the right track by how good we feel while we are learning and growing.

Self-awareness is a process, not a destination. That’s why I’m always asking my students, How do you feel now? How are you different than you used to be? What is new for you? What do you need to let go of and prioritize now?

I am interested in working with deep, thoughtful, self-aware people, who want to express more of themselves in the world. Because these are the people the world needs most right now — the people who want to heal, serve and contribute to an evolving world.

I hope you value your joy over pleasing others. I hope you recognize that time spent understanding what you believe matters. I hope you will know that you deserve a beautiful home that reflects your most expressive self.

When you care about yourself, you get ready to change the world. That’s how taking care of yourself becomes transformational. Take care of you first and then watch how much easier it is to express yourself in the world in a constructive manner.

What you love and who you are inextricably linked. When you dig deep, you know what the single next most important thing to do is, and doing that next thing feels satisfying.

Your truth is living in you. It’s up to you to dive deep inside yourself and bring it up to the surface one glimmer at a time. Your best self living your highest truth IS what the world needs now. Thanks for being here. And thanks for being you.

I am a veteran journalist, author and coach with over a decade and a half of experience and a wealth of techniques to share. I am focused on making the world a saner, more expressive place. I help folks become more creative for personal enjoyment, professional development and transformational growth. Whether you are a professional creative or hope to become one some day, I can help you embrace your personal strengths, explore your creative possibilities, and evolve incrementally into your most inspiring self. If you are ready to achieve creative consistency in your life and career, email me about monthly coaching calls. To learn more about increasing your creative confidence, please check out my online school. Stay tuned for ways to save money by becoming a Beta User for my next new course by subscribing to The Prosperous Creative. And don’t forget to get these blog posts delivered to your inbox, so you never miss a post. If you appreciate my work—school, products, blog and social media posts—you are welcome to make a contribution of any size at any time. Thank you for your support!

~ Photo by Nick Hillier On Unsplash

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Creative To The Core: Just Say No To Shamers

by @thewritermama on October 2, 2017

Welcome to my new series #creativetothecore — meant to help you cultivate more creative joy in your life.

Let me know if you can relate to this post by commenting.

If you would like to share or respond, please use the social media tag #creativetothecore and/or link back to this post.

I’ve been wanting to start this series for while and now seems like a good time. So let’s begin.

What The Heck?

I was verbally attacked in a parking lot out of the blue the other day. A few minutes into the verbal assault, it hit me. Why am I sitting here taking this? I don’t have to, and I’m not going to.

So I got out of my car and I stood up for myself. I used my phone to capture photos of the vehicle and license plate and let the abusive driver know I was taking the evidence to the police. Because I stood up for myself, the man stopped dumping on me and high-tailed it out of there. There were a couple more attempts at intimidation but I wasn’t backing down because I was not willing to accept mistreatment as something I deserved.

I could feel a sense of personal power the moment I thought, No. I am not putting up with this. I don’t have to, and I’m not going to.

If I had just sat there and taken his verbal abuse, he would have won, and I would have felt ashamed afterwards for not standing up for myself. By confronting the abuser and reporting him to the authorities, I won. It was a personal victory, not one that was focused on a particular outcome.

In a million different ways from the time we are born, women are programmed to take abuse that is dished out on us by men. But we don’t have to take it. We all have personal power, and sometimes we get into a habit of not using it. But if you want to bring more creativity and joy into your life, you need to be able to say no to shamers with your words and your actions.

The world is full of shamers. Shamers set a trickle down effect into motion in which those who have been shamed in the past become shamers in the present and in the future.

You may have shamers in your family, at work, in your community, in your church, in your mom’s group—you may even have a shamer as the leader of your country.

A shamer is a person who makes it their mission to try to make others feel ashamed. To shame means to reproach, scold or disgrace another. Sometimes humiliation is involved in shaming. But whether overt or subtle, shaming always feels terrible for the person targeted.

You know you are being shamed if the scorn of another causes you to feel pain in your body—especially in your heart or gut areas. Our bodies are barometers and we can use them to help us steer through life in a constructive manner including how we interact with others.

You can learn to recognize shaming behavior for what it is—another person’s rejected pain coming at you because that person refuses to own it and heal it. And then, like Wonder Woman with her indestructible bracelets, you can learn to deflect shame, so you do not have to carry it for others any longer.

Cut Through The Confusion Of Shaming

People who are shameless shame others while acting as though their behavior is completely justifiable. But shaming is never constructive. You may even feel judged on an energetic level without any words being spoken. Body language often speaks volumes and can make a sensitive soul uncomfortable without a word being uttered.

Shamers are often masters at manipulation. If you feel hostility coming from another person, you are likely not imagining it. Just remember, there is no such thing as healthy shame. The word itself implies harm.

Think of phrases such as “Shame on you!” “For shame!” and “You ought to be ashamed of yourself,” and you will swiftly remember what shame feels like.

Shamers come by their scolding and disapproving because of woundedness. But don’t take it upon yourself to try to fix or help a shamer. Don’t even to try to show a shamer the error of her ways.

Whenever an adult tries to fix or change another adult, the fixer gets burned. This ricochet effect is to remind you to stay in your lane and not try to become the arbiter of another person’s healing. There are plenty of folks in the world offering services to those who genuinely want healing. Until a person wants to heal, nothing is going to change.

You may think a shamer deserves retaliation, a putting in her place, but try being gentle with yourself instead. Correcting someone after they shame you will only create a tit-for-tat volley that can be challenging to stop once it starts.

Ask yourself if you are trying to care-take feelings of a shamer. Do you notice you never win them over and, worse, you always end up feeling like a doormat? If you feel full of dread and like you have no choice but to comply with a shamer, check yourself, you may be people-pleasing shamers. If you walk in the door as a happy, well-adjusted equal and walk out the door feeling confused, sad and hurt, you probably have legitimate reasons for feeling that way.

The bottom line is: you never do a shamer a favor by letting them dump on you. You never help when you let yourself be treated poorly to avoid conflict. Shamers know how to bring the drama and place the blame and they will keep bringing it and blaming you if you do nothing to inoculate yourself against their behavior.

Try making shaming less personal. Think of it as nasty weather. You would think twice before going out in a storm, right? You would take steps like grabbing a raincoat or an umbrella. If the weather was really severe, you might decide to stay home instead.

Shame is emotional bad weather and there are degrees of it. Make the best choices based on the severity of the shaming. Obviously if someone treats you consistently abusively, you need to say no to that and take better care of yourself by steering clear of that person.

For example, if you were getting married and a member of your fianceé’s family opposes your marriage vehemently and loudly, you probably would not want this person to spoil your special day, family member or not.

The idea that you should take care of the feelings of a person who is obviously hostile towards you is backwards. Healthy adults treat other adults respectfully. It’s not sensible to surround yourself with people who can’t stop shaming you. To sit back and take disrespect to keep the peace or show what a virtuous person you are is likely to backfire.

If people treat you with disrespect, why would you want to spend any time with them at all? I like the phrase, “Not my circus, not my monkeys,” because it’s a playful reminder that other people’s psychological dramas are not my business and I can steer clear of them without getting sucked in.

De-shame Your Life Exercise

What can you do to deal with shamers so they don’t squeeze all the juicy goodness out of your everyday life?

If you feel like someone is shaming you, write the things they say in little cartoon bubbles in your journal. Let these cartoon bubbles accumulate for a while until you have a good-sized collection of them. You can also put how the person makes you feel into words in little thinking cartoon bubbles to indicate things that were not said but were still felt by you.

Mark a date on the calendar in the near future to assess your bubbles. Examine the tone. Is it scornful? Dismissive? Harsh? Hostile?

Cross out any bubbles that do not feel like shaming to you upon second examination. In the bubbles that remain, do you notice a shaming tone?

If yes, then you are probably dealing with a shamer or shamers. Sit with this information for a bit without reacting to it. Just breathe. Don’t act yet. You can create a better life for yourself simply by acknowledging what is true.

Does it make you feel better to know there are people who try to control your behavior using shaming? Knowledge really is power in this regard. Shamers may behave as if they know what is best for you and are only trying to help you, but really you are the one who knows what is best for you and you are the one who can help yourself.

Quietly draw clear boundaries with shamers. This is a conversation between you and you. Or if you are married or have children and the shaming is coming at you as a couple or as a family, a discussion may need to happen with the members of your team. Remember that your goal is to be healthy and take healthy steps, not to react. Think of the Michele Obama line, “When they go low, we go high.” Going high is always a good goal and reminds you to do no harm.

Shaming can be confusing, especially if we are trying to shake off residual shame or serial shaming from the past, but the shaming you tolerate today is hurting you. You never get used to it and you should not have to. So don’t be afraid to get help from a therapist or a coach to help you understand what is best for you on a day to day basis to recover from shaming.

Always Put Yourself First

If you chronically put other people’s needs before you own, you may struggle to confront shaming in your life. Notice I said confront the shaming not the shamer. Don’t confront shamers. You don’t want go down that rabbit hole. You are going to be busy working on yourself and learning why you allow others to treat you poorly so you can tap into your personal power in the future.

Just remember, if you are feeling shamed, you are likely being shamed. It won’t help to let shamers off the hook. Put yourself first. In your life, your well-being and happiness come first. Shaming is invisible and yet toxic. Tolerating mistreatment will catch up with you on the physical level eventually, if it hasn’t already. Perhaps this is the most urgent reason to start saying no to shaming today—so you can be safe and whole.

Shamers are people who wittingly or unwittingly harm others. We must stop paying so much attention to people who make a hobby of injuring others. We only give them more of our power when we focus on them too much.

Unplug your self-worth from shamers in your life gradually and freedom and joy will steadily take the place of sorrow. No, it is not always easy to distance yourself from shamers. But you are worthy. You have been worthy all along.

You never need to try and get approval from those who are never going to give it to you anyway. Stop trying to fill yourself up with negative attention and start filling yourself up with the gift of existing without censure.

We all deserve it. And we deserve it right now.

~ Photo by Abbie Bernet on Unsplash

Christina Katz, a veteran journalist, author and coach with over a decade and a half of experience and a wealth of techniques to share, is focused on making the world a saner, more expressive place. She helps folks become more creative for personal enjoyment, professional development and transformational growth. Whether you are a professional creative or hope to become one some day, Christina can help you embrace your personal strengths, explore your creative possibilities, and evolve incrementally into your most inspiring self. If you are ready to achieve creative consistency in your life and career, email her about monthly coaching calls. To learn more about increasing your creative confidence, please check out Christina’s online school and stay tuned for ways to become a Beta User for her next new course. Subscribe to The Prosperous Creative for the latest news and discounts and get these blog posts delivered to your inbox so you never miss a post.

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Become A Beta User For My Next Course, Expressive Outdoors, And Save A Bundle

by @thewritermama on September 26, 2017

I alternate launching creativity and writing courses and now it’s time for a new creativity course!

Beta Users, who help me create the course by answering four rounds of questions, get 50% off courses launching soon.

I am currently seeking Beta Users for my next creativity course, Expressive Outdoors, Sprinkle More You All Around Your Home.

This course will help you refocus your urge to please on charming yourself and your immediate family first. Once you all enjoy the area outside your home, visitors will follow suit! Strangers may even start stopping by to let you know how much they enjoy passing your home. I would not have believed this until it started happening to me.

If your outdoor decor does not consistently lift you up, then this course is for you! Expressive Outdoors is a companion course to Expressive At Home, which I launched in May. Expressive Outdoors focuses on expressing yourself outside your home — on your porches, on your patios, and all around the immediate outside of your home. These are areas that are often neglected outright or simply decorated in a similar way to everyone else.

Putting your unique stamp on the area outside your home is a gradual process. Sure, there are a few things you can do right away but I will help you pace yourself and make transformational choices. This is a self-paced, online video class with the emphasis on tackling manageable assignments after each pep talk.

My goal is for you to say, “This course gave me the motivation to express myself outdoors while having fun doing it and without spending a fortune.”

Expressing yourself outdoors does not have to be expensive and I will explain how. And this is a great time of year to make plans. You do not have to take my Expressive At Home course first, although you may, if you wish. These online courses can be taken in any order.

Here’s the course outline in process:

Expressive Outdoors: Sprinkle More You All Around Your Home
Fun Is The Formula For A Happy Yard
Paint With Living Things
Claim Your Outdoor Inheritance
Upcycle Your Inspiration
Instant Gratification With Containers
Edible Gardening Made Easy
Create An Artful Yard
Finishing Touches Ignite Magic
Savor The Long Game
Enjoy Relaxing Outdoors

The future price of this course will be $99 but, for a limited time, the discounted Beta-user price is $49. Register now to become a Beta User. The Beta period begins on October 2nd and that’s when you can expect your first round of questions. Courses take 3-4 weeks to launch. Register here to become a Beta User — it’s fun and you will learn so much about yourself.

So much inspiration, so much time! Visit my online creative confidence school and start expressing yourself afresh right now. Join the creative confidence club: subscribe to the Christina Katz blog and sign up for The Prosperous Creative ezine for a free gift, the latest news and exclusive discounts you won’t find elsewhere. Need more encouraging words in your life? Check out my Etsy shop. And have you seen all of the helpful offerings in my online shop? Be sure to check them out before you click away. Thanks for reading and thanks for sharing my work with all of your creative friends!

~ Photo by Chloe Ridgway

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The Inspired Creative: September Muses

by @thewritermama on September 15, 2017

It’s harvest season, yay!

I always feel creatively inspired as the season’s change. Don’t you?

Here are just a few things I’m geeking out about lately.

Thingamabobs

A few weeks ago, a friend told me about her Roomba and I have been obsessing about having continually clean floors ever since. I remember when these gadgets first came out, I had my usual thought that they would be awesome once they got all the bugs out. Seems like maybe that time has come. Does anyone else have one or have something similar?

This is the Roomba, which is a bit pricey for my taste:

And this is the competitor I’m seriously considering that has the same rating:

Imagine all those clean floors! I am close to making a decision and I’d love your input, if you have any. Or just let me know if you’ve ever been tempted or own one.

Creative Inspiration

Austin Kleon puts out a great weekly newsletter every Friday, which is where I saw these stories about artist, illustrator and director Sanda Boynton. I bet they will inspire you, too. If they do, be sure to subscribe to Austin’s newsletter. Here’s a link to Boynton’s website.

Visual Inspiration

I recently had the idea to use a fall scarf as a visual inspiration for decorating. Maybe because it still feels like summer here, so it’s challenging to get in the fall mood just yet. Here is the one I chose, which comes at a very reasonable price.

Gastronomic Inspiration

Everything is coming up pumpkin all of the sudden. Honestly, it’s a little overwhelming and in early September, I felt like I wasn’t ready. But I have since had my first Pumpkin Spice Latte, and though I would not drink one very often, it was tasty and helped me get into the fall mood. If you want to find your own favorite recipe, here’s a link to a list of ways to make PSLs at home. I’m happy the weather has taken a turn for the cooler so they make a bit more sense than they did on September 1st.

Tomatoes Abound!

Yesterday I made homemade spaghetti sauce and this weekend, I plan to make homemade chili. Needless to say, tomatoes are particularly abundant right now. My friends are showering me with bags of fresh-picked beauties, which are welcome. I will post both recipes shortly. I can’t believe I haven’t posted them before under the category of “A Writer’s Got To Eat.”

In Process…

I have several creative projects going right now. Of course, I am always writing articles and building new courses in my online school. I never talk about my articles while I’m working on them because that would mess up my process. But I have started using a more open, interactive method of creating courses that involves working with Beta Users. Read more about the latest opportunity here. I’m also making wreaths, painting garden rocks, and weeding and replanting my gardens for fall, which is a great way to get away from my desk. The wreaths and rocks will provide immediate gratification, while the fresh seeds and bulbs will give me a chance to practice delayed gratification…which is not my favorite thing but is totally worth it in the long run. I also find that getting up and away from my desk is better for my physical health and helps me clear my head so new ideas can flow in.

I’d love to hear what is inspiring you this September! Share your seasonal experiences in the comments. Also, if you enjoy this type of post, you’d likely love my Expressive At Home course and my upcoming Expressive Outdoors course. Subscribe to my ezine to stay in the loop and get the best discounts.

So much inspiration, so much time! Visit my online creative confidence school and start expressing yourself afresh right now. Join the creative confidence club: subscribe to the Christina Katz blog and sign up for The Prosperous Creative ezine for a free gift, the latest news and exclusive discounts you won’t find elsewhere. Need more encouraging words in your life? Check out my Etsy shop. And have you seen all of the helpful offerings in my online shop? Be sure to check them out before you click away. Thanks for reading and thanks for sharing my work with all of your creative friends!

~ Photo by Jametlene Reskp

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Become A Beta User For My Next Essay Writing Course, All About You

by @thewritermama on September 13, 2017

My next course is called All About You and it contains five personal essay writing assignments that help you explore and understand your unique point of view.

Individuality is an crucial quality in an essay writer. I often find that writers have a habit of striving to make their writing universal instead of striving to say something that is uniquely true to them.

The universality in your writing originates in the honesty and uniqueness inherent in your point of view. The more you strive to be acceptable and accepted in your writing, the less likely you are to say anything fresh and moving for the reader.

And so, in this brand new course, you will undertake five essay writing assignments that will help awaken the uniqueness in your perspective. If you want to write something true, this course will help you explore and own your own points of view on a variety of topics.

This course contains exercises that make self-exploration accessible, so you can learn how to create compelling essays naturally by expressing yourself. No more killing yourself to write a publishable essay.

This course contains assignments that are simple, yet powerful. If you are looking for affirmation of who you are and what you believe, then this is the perfect course for you.

You can write these essays with an aim at future publication or simply for increased self-awareness, the choice is up to you. You will benefit and grow from the assignments either way.

If you would like to provide input that helps me create the course and give me feedback once the course is created, then become a Beta User and get half off this course. Beta Users save the most money on my courses because I appreciate their help so much.

Register now if you would like to become a Beta User and I will send you the first of four rounds of five questions right away. All you have to do is answer each round of questions so I can make the course the best it can be.

This course is slated to launch for Beta Users on Friday, September 22nd. Register now to become a Beta User for All About You at a reduced price of $49 until September 21st at midnight:

So much inspiration, so much time! Visit my online creative confidence school and start expressing yourself afresh right now. Join the creative confidence club: subscribe to the Christina Katz blog and sign up for The Prosperous Creative ezine for a free gift, the latest news and exclusive discounts you won’t find elsewhere. Need more encouraging words in your life? Check out my Etsy shop. And have you seen all of the helpful offerings in my online shop? Be sure to check them out before you click away. Thanks for reading and thanks for sharing my work with all of your creative friends!

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Total Eclipse Of The Hype: Writers Writing About Past Eclipse Experiences

by @thewritermama on August 19, 2017

Beyond all of the hype and product-hawking around the eclipse of 2017, I find the words of writers who have witnessed eclipses in the past to be deeply comforting.

If you are feeling similarly distracted by all the media drama about the total eclipse, consider taking a trip back to simpler times by reading these eclipse accounts by famous wordsmiths.

If anyone knows of other accounts, let me know, and I will add them.

Perhaps these writings will prompt you to write down your own experience of the eclipse of 2017. I hope so!

Total Eclipse by Annie Dillard

What you see in an eclipse is entirely different from what you know. It is especially different for those of us whose grasp of astronomy is so frail that, given a flashlight, a grapefruit, two oranges, and fifteen years, we still could not figure out which way to set the clocks for Daylight Saving Time. Usually it is a bit of a trick to keep your knowledge from blinding you. But during an eclipse it is easy. What you see is much more convincing than any wild-eyed theory you may know.

The Eclipse by James Fenimore Cooper

At twelve minutes past eleven, the moon stood revealed in its greatest distinctness — a vast black orb, so nearly obscuring the sun that the face of the great luminary was entirely and absolutely darkened, though a corona of rays of light appeared beyond. The gloom of night was upon us. A breathless intensity of interest was felt by all. There would appear to be something instinctive in the feeling with which man gazes at all phenomena in the heavens. The peaceful rainbow, the heavy clouds of a great storm, the vivid flash of electricity, the falling meteor, the beautiful lights of the aurora borealis, fickle as the play of fancy, — these never fail to fix the attention with something of a peculiar feeling, different in character from that with which we observe any spectacle on the earth.

Excerpt from The Shorter Diary Of Virginia Woolf

But now the colour was going out. The clouds were turning pale; a reddish black colour. Down in the valley it was an extraordinary scrumble of red and black; there was the one light burning; all was cloud down there, and very beautiful, so delicately tinted. The 24 seconds were passing. Then one looked back again at the blue: and rapidly, very very quickly, all the colours faded; it became darker and darker as at the beginning of a violent storm; the light sank and sank; we kept saying this is the shadow; and we thought now it is over – this is one shadow; when suddenly the light went out. We had fallen. It was extinct. There was no colour. The earth was dead.

So much inspiration, so much time! Visit my online creative confidence school and start expressing yourself afresh right now. Join the creative confidence club: subscribe to the Christina Katz blog and sign up for The Prosperous Creative ezine for a free gift, the latest news and exclusive discounts you won’t find elsewhere. Need more encouraging words in your life? Check out my Etsy shop. And have you seen all of the helpful offerings in my online shop? Be sure to check them out before you click away. Thanks for reading and thanks for sharing my work with all of your creative friends!

~ Photo by vancarlosfr

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Creative Confidence Is Always Available To You

by @thewritermama on August 7, 2017

Here’s a little pep talk about creative confidence that went out in my last newsletter. If you would like more reminders about how creatively powerful you always are, why not get on my email list or subscribe to this blog?

You have more abilities than you realize. You are an incredibly able person. And the world yearns for what you have to offer. Don’t keep it from us!

Your creativity is a river that is deep, wide and coursing swiftly, and always ready to pour through you the minute you allow it.

Even if life is challenging sometimes, your creative power is always there, inside you, waiting for its next opportunity to pour through.

Your creativity is yours. No one can take it from you or diminish it. You have plenty of it and more than enough to last you a lifetime.

The only person who can cut off the flow of your self-expression is you. Which is good news because this means you are also the only one who can open the flow back up, no matter how long it’s been held back.

Creativity is the opposite of perfectionism. The unrealistic restrictions we impose on ourselves can deny us so many good things. But the imperfect expression of who we are opens all the closed doors back up.

If you want to stay humble, always be learning something new and doing it poorly at first. You can get better with practice.

That wonderful feeling of flow is available to all of us. We are allowed to experience it for whatever amounts of time we have available, whether five minutes or five hours a day.

All creative goals are worthwhile. If we long to express something with our whole heart, we cannot possibly do harm. We can always create in positive ways and our good intentions will ripple out and touch the world.

So much inspiration, so much time! Visit my online creative confidence school and start expressing yourself afresh right now. Join the creative confidence club: subscribe to the Christina Katz blog and sign up for The Prosperous Creative ezine for a free gift, the latest news and exclusive discounts you won’t find elsewhere. Need more encouraging words in your life? Check out my Etsy shop. And have you seen all of the helpful offerings in my online shop? Be sure to check them out before you click away. Thanks for reading and thanks for sharing my work with all of your creative friends!

~ Photo by Roman Kraft

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My Online Course Expressive Outdoors Follows The Success Of Expressive At Home

by @thewritermama on July 27, 2017

I can write up a storm in my home office and still enjoy the rest of my home inside and out. And you can, too. Check out my new online course, Expressive At Home.

Learn More About Expressive At Home

In my opinion, there is nothing better than becoming a bit more expressive every single day.

And there is nothing worse than being creatively blocked. Ugh!

As a writer, I am fortunate. I get to express myself all the time. Naturally, expressing creativity always feels great.

But in recent years, I find myself wanting to express myself in ways beyond merely writing.

I know now that I used my writing as a bit of a crutch for a while. Writing was my excuse to not express myself in other arenas of my life.

I would think, Well, this room has no style, but I’m a writer so I can’t be bothered with the way this room looks.

Or I would think, I know this outfit is completely uninspired and conveys nothing about who I am, but that doesn’t matter because I’m a writer and I have work to do.

I literally used to think like this all the time about so many things. Then in recent years, I started to notice I was missing out on making personal choices that were being presented to me on a daily basis, and I was using my career as an excuse for not making them.

I was too busy, right? I was too successful. I needed to work long hours to keep up my momentum. These seemed like a good excuses to focus mostly on writing and ignore other things I might have enjoyed but would not make time for.

I was using my writing career as an excuse for not making choice after choice after choice. I had a kind of tunnel vision that was blotting out much of the fun of everyday living.

These days, things have changed dramatically. I am more inclined to get excited about making little choices. Making more choices in more arenas of my life doesn’t take me away from success, in fact, living a fuller life enriches my career and vice-versa.

Today I embrace all of the opportunities for self-expression in my life without feeling overwhelmed by them. And every time I express myself, I feel great about myself whether that means writing an article, cooking a meal, building a class, arrange a vase of flowers, or anything I do that puts my signature stamp on my life.

Expressive At Home is an online course that asks you a lot of questions so you get to make a lot of personal choices. Sometimes we just need to be asked to discover what we feel. When you make many choices every day, change starts to happen without much effort.

Change means you are awake and in a dialogue with yourself about what you need. Change means you are making choices and they are in the process of being fulfilled. Nothing feels better than expressing and meeting your own needs.

Expressive At Home is one of the best classes I’ve ever created. I had waves of input to help make it the best it could be, and folks who have taken it are raving about it. I hope you will check out Expressive At Home. See what folks have to say about it, below, and then stick around to learn about my next class, Expressive Outdoors. If you love the idea of becoming more expressive at home, you are going to love becoming more expressive outside your home, as well.

Home should be a place that feels like a refreshing, nourishing retreat after a busy day navigating an often stressful, unpredictable world. Our homes provide the perfect canvas for expressing who we are and what we value most in our lives. Christina’s course Expressive at Home offers an assortment of inspiring, multi-sensory ideas that quickly helped me discover playful, surprising and inexpensive ways to chase the cobwebs off of tired shelves, rejuvenate cluttered rooms and reinvigorate my creative spirit. I’ve already started integrating Christina’s ideas into my home and can feel my creativity expanding in all areas of my life. ~ Christa Melnyk Hines, Journalist, Author and Connection Expert

The lessons, examples, and exercises in Expressive At Home: Exercises To Skyrocket Your Creativity provided a much-needed reconnection with my home. The step-by-step modules offered fresh insights on how to freshen up my physical spaces while shifting my perspective to see things differently too. Like a gift to the self, I couldn’t wait to dip into the next module each day. Every suggested activity was doable, affordable, and exciting to complete. I highly recommend Expressive At Home: Exercises To Skyrocket Your Creativity. It’s made a big difference in my home in just 10 days! ~ Debra Mars, Creativity and Writing Coach

This is a great course! My house lacks personal expression but now I feel like I can easily become more expressive at home. The length of the videos is just right. I had been feeling stuck and too busy to decorate. I often felt like I did not even know what my taste was. It was amazing how Expressive At Home hit on all of the ways I was feeling and addressed my needs. ~ Sarah Yale, Journalist

All of the lessons in Expressive At Home encouraged change from the inside out. Then end results are then up to us to discover. I especially liked how personal the content felt and hearing about your personal experiences and processes. I can imagine your satisfaction from bringing flowers in from your garden, I can imagine you making a cup of tea while you take one of your hourly breaks, and I can imagine your family coming home and feeling supported by the focal arrangement that featured images from their play. I am already applying some of your insights spontaneously with surges of energy that urge me onward. Thank you! ~ Diane Turner Maller, Journalist and Tutor

Being human means always being in a state of evolution. When we reject this idea, we suffer. But it doesn’t take much to get back in the flow of personal growth. We don’t have to go meditate on a mountaintop. We can start right where we are, at home, and learn so much about ourselves. When we are in touch with ourselves, we can create a home we love that loves us back.

Learn More About Expressive At Home

So much inspiration, so much time! Visit my online creative confidence school and start expressing yourself afresh right now. Join the creative confidence club: subscribe to the Christina Katz blog and sign up for The Prosperous Creative ezine for a free gift, the latest news and exclusive discounts you won’t find elsewhere. Need more encouraging words in your life? Check out my Etsy shop. And have you seen all of the helpful offerings in my online shop? Be sure to check them out before you click away. Thanks for reading and thanks for sharing my work with all of your creative friends!

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Butterfly Wisdom: A Softer, Gentler Way To Succeed At Anything

by @thewritermama on July 5, 2017

While I was creating my latest course, Effortless Essay Writing, I received an important reminder from a butterfly that reminded me that creative confidence can be strong and gentle.

Over the weeks I was working on the course, summer started in earnest, and while summer is not my favorite season, I love gardening, and I have cultivated a variety of gardens all around the house over the past several years.

Tending my gardens is a great way to take a quick mental break when I am working hard on a project. So I go outside to turn on or off my soaker hoses, quickly pull a few weeds, make a bouquet or just stroll around with a cup of coffee or iced tea and admire the cumulative results of my efforts.

Gardens are never static. They are always evolving, changing, and expanding just like us. And since I am always planting new seeds, there are often new discoveries to make on a daily basis.

As I was finishing my last class, I kept seeing a large yellow butterfly fluttering about in my newest garden. Apparently I have finally planted flowers that butterflies like, which makes me happy. I have always enjoyed visiting hummingbirds and I’m excited to be attracting butterflies now, too.

The big, yellow butterfly showed up right when I was considering the best photo to represent my new course. It never would have occurred to me on my own to use a butterfly image, but I was feeling less than satisfied with the more straightforward images of laptops, notebooks and fingers typing.

When you are writing an essay, you might see an awful lot of your laptop or your notebook or your fingers typing but I’m not sure these images are all that inspiring in and of themselves.

And that’s how it hit me that the butterfly was a much better image for what I was communicating in my new essay writing class. Writers struggle with essay writing in so many ways and most of those struggles are rooted in trying too hard. I created a course that outlines an effortless approach to essay writing that will work every time, just as a butterfly finds flowers and drinks nectar without struggle.

So many of us have been raised on shoulds and musts and trying to have willpower over our unruly selves, and this type of self-controlled approach does not activate our purest creative efforts. Our ideas are always calling to us, if we are attuned to receiving them and being gentle enough with ourselves to attract our best ideas is at the root of happy creating. After that, all we have to do is stay light about the process and not fall into the trap of worrying about outcomes or taking ourselves too seriously.

Even though we live in a noisy world with crazy things happening all the time, the butterflies still find the flowers with the nectar they need. They don’t care who is tweeting what on social media. They simply find the flowers they need and flit on over to them on a calm, warm day to gently extract the nectar they need without disrupting so much as a petal.

Butterflies are focused, yet relaxed; instinctive, yet intuitive; alert, yet fearless. Butterflies remind writers to lighten up, enjoy the process, and celebrate every satisfying sip of nectar. Writers sometimes forget that the quality of the journey matters as much as the successful outcome. And yet, when we enjoy the journey, the whole process becomes a win, not merely the outcome.

Butterflies are helpful symbols for writers, who can become too mental in our habits and lose touch with our instincts and intuitions. Ideas do not flow for writers when we get in our own way. We sometimes need to be reminded to keep things simple.

I wanted to create a course that would make essay writing simple, straightforward and doable, yet also alluring, magical, and powerful. The way a butterfly can remind us to stop, pay attention, and appreciate a moment more deeply, I hope I have encouraged writers to relax, reflect, and enjoy the process of essay writing.

So you can probably expect to see more butterfly imagery in my upcoming essay writing courses! I am fond of the reminder that creative confidence is as calm as a butterfly and I hope you appreciate it, too.

Go easy on yourselves, writers, and be amazed at how much more you are able to get done. Be like the butterfly: lighten up, tune in, and get on track for your next completed mission.

If you’d like to discover a whole new, more doable approach to essay writing, you will find it in my Effortless Essay Writing course.

So much inspiration, so much time! Visit my online creative confidence school and start expressing yourself afresh right now. Join the creative confidence club: subscribe to the Christina Katz blog and sign up for The Prosperous Creative ezine for a free gift, the latest news and exclusive discounts you won’t find elsewhere. Need more encouraging words in your life? Check out my Etsy shop. And have you seen all of the helpful offerings in my online shop? Be sure to check them out before you click away. Thanks for reading and thanks for sharing my work with all of your creative friends!

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Summer Discounts For Lifelong Learners In My Creative Confidence School

by @thewritermama on July 1, 2017

I am pleased to be able to offer a few discounts in my online school this month and next for eager learners, who don’t stop taking classes just because the temperatures go up.

These are bulk discount deals—either get three classes for the price of two or get ten dollars off when you purchase two writing prompt challenges.

The following specials are running until midnight August 31st!

Three For Two Article Writing Classes Summer Special
Three For Two Platform Building Classes Summer Special
Two Summer Writing Prompt Challenges For Ten Dollars Off

Learn more about these courses in my school, and while you are there, check out my newly updated FAQ page.

I’m always working to make your experience in my school better and better. Please let me know if you have any questions about taking classes with me or becoming a Beta User.

Becoming a Beta User is currently the only way to save on individual courses. In my last ezine, I announced my next two courses seeking Beta Users. Click here if you are not already a subscriber and you would like to become one.

My next two courses are…

Expressive Outdoors (Follows Expressive At Home)

&

All About You: Personal Essay Writing Assignments (Follows Effortless Essay Writing)

Learn more about what’s coming up and register as a Beta User by reading my last ezine that went out a few days ago. Click here for all the latest news.

I hope your summer is going great so far, but don’t stop learning. My online school makes it easy to always be creatively inspired, expanding and prospering. I hope you will check it out today!

So much inspiration, so much time! Visit my online creative confidence school and start expressing yourself afresh right now. Join the creative confidence club: subscribe to the Christina Katz blog and sign up for The Prosperous Creative ezine for a free gift, the latest news and exclusive discounts you won’t find elsewhere. Need more encouraging words in your life? Check out my Etsy shop. And have you seen all of the helpful offerings in my online shop? Be sure to check them out before you click away. Thanks for reading and thanks for sharing my work with all of your creative friends!

~ Photo by Jiří Wagner on Unsplash

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