Connecting The Dots - Exploring connection between creative work and creative motherhood..: Recent Episodes
Cassie Hubert
SO MANY PASSIONS, BUT JUST ONE LIFE!You love your family and want to invest deeply in those relationships.You love your craft and want to invest in and grow that too.AND you want to live from a place of deep peace and connectedness - not buying in to the frazzle and hustle culture.You’re convinced that there is a way to hold it all in a happy tension, BUT HOW?When you are creative, passionate and curious about so many things… sometimes you need a little help connecting the dots. Join me, Cassie Hubert, as I explore the joys, challenges and questions that come from pursuing a life of depth and connection. It’s family, artistry and everything in between.
I'm no 'Personal Style Guru', I mean I've learnt a few things and am much clearer on the colours that suit me best and make me feel like I look awake, alive and healthy - but I do think that learning to honour our preferences and use what we've learned in our own artistry and personal journey, in our sense of style and how we dress, has real value.
How can you authentically show up in your life and artistry if you are feeling physically uncomfortable in what you are wearing?
Support the show
If you would like to support the podcast, you can do so here!
To hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
How often as a kid at school were you told to show your workings out?
In certain situations (eg. maths exams) this is to our benefit, in order to help someone understand our process and give us clarity on how to get to where we are trying to go.
But sometimes it can leave us with a sense that we need to get someone else's approval or sign off on how we are doing, mid way through the process, and I don't think this is helpful for our creativity and the ability stay present.
Maybe there is room for mystery and trust, and I would suggest more joy too.
Support the show
If you would like to support the podcast, you can do so here!
To hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
Birthdays can be tricky for many of us, feeling like milestones and marker points in our lives, yet they don't always coincide with where we hoped or thought we'd be. But what if age really was just a number, and the real marker points where how much more fully we know and have stepped into who we are?
Support the show
If you would like to support the podcast, you can do so here!
To hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
In nature there are laws of seed time, and harvest... some plants spend ages underground before emerging , but then grow rapidly, bloom and die, whereas others are slow to grow at all, yet last longer, growing from strength to strength.
Babies gestate in the hidden place of the womb for 9 months before emerging.
Yet we can often be led to expect ourselves to be always producing content and 'evidence of time well spent'.
I think there is a lot to be said for NOT being productive.
At least not in every season... because if we try, we shall burn out. But when we learn to trust the timing - long or short - of the time in the dark, putting down our roots, we can experience more joy and better quality of work when it is time to put it out in the world.
Join me for today's episode.
Support the show
If you would like to support the podcast, you can do so here!
To hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
Hi there you lovely listeners!
So for those of you who have been listening a while, you may have noticed the sporadic output and the near radio silence for over a year.
Burnout, life and moving have played a huge part in that, so here is a slightly shorter episode filling you in on the plan going forward.
Thank you for sticking with me.
Cassie x
Ps. I would love to hear what you struggle with in your random dot-connecting life, and so if you have any topics or directions you'd love to hear me explore on here, please get in touch via hello@cassiehubert.com, or DM me on Instagram.
Support the show
If you would like to support the podcast, you can do so here!
To hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
Have you ever been told that in order to survive and get on in this world, you need to develop a thick skin?
Maybe you've been led to believe that softness is weakness (and not in a good way), and that to be soft is to be less-than.
Well I don't think so!
What if, in order to grow into our creativity and our relationships with more freedom, softness was the way forward?
Join me today as I explore why I don't think that the process of softening isn't stupidity.
In today's episode I reference Braving The Wilderness by Brené Brown, a great book, well worth reading.
If you would like to support the podcast, you can do so here!
To hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
How often do you find that you have big plans or ideas, but then fail to be able to execute them because of... well... Life?
Perhaps you long to fulfill a big project, but it's slow going due to ongoing health needs, or family commitments or because you simply cannot maintain the pace?
You are not alone.
This is where embracing the 'Stop/Start' way of pursuing what matters will get you further than nowhere. Because even showing up in small ways, as and when you can, is better than not showing up at all!
Allow me to encourage you to embrace where you are right now with kindness, and allow you to see that it won't render you obsolete.
That Deep Work - my poem on doing the deep, inner work for ourselves.
If you would like to support the podcast, you can do so here!
To hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
Making art requires connection to our emotions and physical sensations... the more connected we are, the better able we are to create work that resonates.
However, we can mistake this need to be in touch with our feelings with a sense that we should reside in that feeling space, when by nature, a bubble of Feeeeelings is just that, a fixed bubble of stasis.
So how can we treasure those feelings without needing to be stuck within them in order to feel truly alive?
If you would like to support the podcast, you can do so here!
To hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
When you can't see what's happening below the surface, it can cause us to worry whether anything is actually happening at all - whether we are discussing personal growth or creative development. Yet what if the deepest work, that gets us to the point where we see progress on the surface, actually benefits from happening out of sight?
Learning to trust our instincts, particularly when we feel wobbly about our progress, is a really valuable practice to cultivate.
If you would like to support the podcast, you can do so here!
To hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
When making creative work (and also being in healthy relationships) a lot of value is placed on being able to be present. You can't actually make something that is in the past - it has already passed us by. Neither can we create something in the future, if we don't begin the process now.
Yet how many of us spend much of our thought and feeling life time-travelling between past and future? I know I do!
So what helps us to stay present - getting more connected to our bodies.
Join me as I explore the concepts of embodiment and time travel in the areas of creativity and relationships.
If you would like to support the podcast, you can do so here!
To hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
We all have moments of self doubt, and when we are pursuing a path that is more off the beaten track, it can feel really hard, and sometimes lonely, when we doubt our choices. Yet if we see our creative and personal lives as being part of a quest, an ongoing journey in pursuit of something meaningful, rather than something we will live out to the letter, it has the capacity to free us up to trust the journey, and hopefully connect with the experiences and scenery along the way.
If you would like to support the podcast, you can do so here!
To hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
How often do you judge your ideas (or people - guilty here) too soon and without the full picture?
For our creativity to thrive and our ideas to flow, we need to leave judgement at the door. Once we have got the idea or the work fully formed, then we are in a better position to apply critical thinking to the work, and make our adjustments, but too soon, and we'll probably kill it off.
The same applies to the people in our lives.
Join me as I chat through the nature of judgement and it's relationship to deeper connection.
If you would like to support the podcast, you can do so here!
To hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
How often do we ignore the pull towards something, because we feel we should be doing something else right now?
What if we were to be more responsive to those things which do draw us, trusting that we will come back to the shoulds more easily at a later point, and possibly with a greater energy and impetus, due to listening to the deeper parts of ourselves?
Join me for today's episode as I explore this.
If you would like to support the podcast, you can do so here!
To hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
* Welcome to season 6 of Connecting The Dots!
After the darkest season of Winter, yet before Spring is sprung, join me as I deep dive into all things creativity, artistry, parenting, self-care, personal growth, relationships and EVERYTHING that helps us live more fully into our freedom as creative, vibrant beings - separate to, but not exclusive of our productivity.
So this episode kicks off with a bit of reflection and planning around how we ebb and flow in our rhythms of life, and how that is not a bad thing, but all part of the process.
I am also encouraging us to be intentional about noticing those patterns of ebb, where we repeatedly find ourselves running low on creative energy, and plotting in down time in order to allow us to find our flow again, replenished and creatively vibrant.
If you would like to support the podcast, you can do so here!
To hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
As the days get shorter and darker and we look forward to the coming of the lights of Christmas and hope for the light of new life and creativity in Spring, it can feel as though the waiting is forever.
When a difficult season drags, it can be so tempting to give up hope that there will ever be a shift, but i am here to offer you some encouragement that this season is not forever, the wait is not for nothing, and it is not empty.
If you would like to hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
Christmas is getting closer, and all the energy is ramping up as we prepare for the coming festivities, but as we enter the season of Advent, maybe we can take a little bit of time to gather inwards, with our thoughts and feelings and with our families in order to sit with the hiatus of the 'now and not yet', and reflect on where we are before we rush into the season, headlong.
If you would like to hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
Stories are powerful ways of helping us make sense of the world and our own experiences. Even more so, our own personal stories and the way we engage with and express them. It's not about spin, but framing does matter, because our stories matter. So allowing ourselves to connect with them with comfort and hope - and a good cuppa, is another way of honouring our voices and caring for ourselves.
If you would like to hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
I think that we can often feel that our voice (aka what we have to contribute) is not really either valuable or important, and that what we might think or want to say isn't worth sharing.
But I disagree.
I am convinced that each of us has value and a unique perspective that the world needs to hear, and so getting more confident in both identifying and using our voice, will bring more insight and beauty to the world.
You were born for such a time as this.
If you would like to hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
How often to we come up against resistance in our attempts to move forward because we are hanging on to a specific picture of what the result should be?
We have a fixed outcome in mind - if I do this, or make so and so do that, then the result will/should be ....
Having a vision or a goal is a really good and helpful thing, but sometimes we can get to hung up on the specific detail of what we are aiming for.
What if we were to drop the idea that there is one specific outcome and instead embrace the discovery of there being many possible outcomes, would it release the pressure on us to be perfect and to become more patient, creative and connected?
Mentioned in this episode The Actor And The Target -Declan Donnellan
If you would like to hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
When we are in the thick of a grieving season, sometimes it can be all we can do to feed ourselves.
In this episode, I explore what self care can look like when we are trying to survive the worst of our grief.
If you would like to hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
Delight and joy can come from unexpected places, but often in stressful seasons, we can find it really hard to notice them and allow ourselves to receive the gift of them.
I have found that learning to be attentive, lean in and enjoy them, far from undermining the gravity of a tough season, can actually be something beautiful which sustains me through it.
How about you?
If you would like to hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
There is no one perfect trajectory for grief.
There is only allowing ourselves to be where we are and be gentle with ourselves in the process of grieving.
Today I talk about ways we can lean in to grieving well, without sacrificing our authenticity, and I also share a little about the loss of our infant daughter to a late miscarriage.
If you would like to hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
Definition of Plod - Slow moving and unexciting.
How often can our progress through life and especially difficult seasons of trauma and grief feel slow and unexciting, like we will never fly, or come through the worst of our pain into something more meaningful?
But what if the art of plodding was actually a gift for us, laying the stable foundations for bursts of growth and greater freedom within ourselves?
If you would like to hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
The power of a good story to delight and challenge us is known, but sometimes it can be easy to forget that stories can ease our fears and help us move through difficult seasons with more courage than we might otherwise be able to muster.
Re-writing our stories can also give us a safer way to approach really painful aspects of our history.
Books mentioned in this episode
The Rock That Is Higher - Madeleine l'EngleThe Body Keeps The Score - Bessel Van Der Kolk.If you would like to hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
We can relish the idea of peace and quiet, but when we get it, it can feel both overwhelming and also frustrating when that quiet seems to be a permanent silence from inside that threatens to go on forever. We can start to panic that we have somehow broken our minds and that maybe we have no longer got anything to offer, with the only solution being to push harder and force ourselves to do more.
But what if that quiet and space is actually vital to our mental, emotional and creative health...? maybe being unproductive for an extended season could actually be allowed and even a good thing.
If you would like to hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
We so often think that our direction through life should be a linear process - a to b to c, will get us faithfully to z and our goal, and whilst there are some things which benefit from following a clear route (such as a new recipe), life very often has other ideas.
Perhaps as we get more confident trusting that inner voice, we can grow in confidence that - despite appearances - our tangents and detours are actually leading us towards those deeper goals, rather than away from them.
If you would like to hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
New Season starts today!!
As we move through the end of Summer into the Autumn and all the changes of rhythm and energy that brings, it can be easy to find ourselves caught up in the strength of the tide and lose ourselves in the potential for stress and crazy.
How can we put in (or take things out) little rituals and shape to our days that offer us a sense of rhythm and an anchor point for feeling like ourselves?
If you would like to hear more from me, head over to cassiehubert.com or check out my linktree
And you can also click here to sign up to my newsletter Connect, Create & Resonate
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver & Cassie Hubert
Original Music - Cassie Hubert.
This week - Cheerleading Your Skills and Resources.
How do you keep growing and creating and leaning in to the tough stuff?
You need encouragement and people to cheer you on, but if you are simultaneously being down on yourself, then you are going to get stuck.
You need to become your own best friend and cheerleader - not delusion protractor - but encourager.
Join me for a short series on how to be your own best cheerleader and what that can look like.
For more of my art, work, and thoughts
How do you keep growing and creating and leaning in to the tough stuff?
You need encouragement and people to cheer you on, but if you are simultaneously being down on yourself, then you are going to get stuck.
You need to become your own best friend and cheerleader - not delusion protractor - but encourager.
Join me for a short series on how to be your own best cheerleader and what that can look like, starting with this week - Reframing Process vs Production.
For more of my words, art and thoughts - head over to cassiehubert.com
How often do you really listen?
Do you find that you are only taking in the facts, but missing the connection and the underlying story, or do you struggle when you are on the receiving end of only being half listened to?
Truly listening, learning to go deeper and really hear each other, can be a more complicated process than we think, but it's worth the extra effort and discomfort of becoming aware of any work we need to do in this area.
It does help to connect the dots for artistry and family - and obviously everything in between.
If you would like to read or explore more of my work, head over to cassiehubert.com
So 2022 is already in full swing - I mean it is the second week of February already - maybe you hit the ground running, in which case 'atta girl!'
But if you haven’t found that the change of year number brought you automatic joy and energy, or abundant creativity and the poise you crave - perhaps you could give yourself a reset, instead allowing yourself to ease in more gently, whatever you are facing.
Pushing through may sound valiant, but if you are at capacity, it’s only going to demoralise you further. Whereas, giving yourself permission to go gently as you find your feet, could be the one thing which sees you making more progress, as you cultivate kindness and value the art of starting small.
You might be exhausted, but you are certain that the key to living a deeply connected life is not something that can be stumbled upon... it takes work and a level of vulnerabilty which can feel a little scary. However, you are not someone who is prepared to risk sleeping through your life, missing out on the richest experience available - no you, my friend want to be all you can be and live life to the fullest.
Today's episode begins afresh with the idea that all of life is deeply connected, and that to find and express the artistry of living, we need to be fully awake, attentive and curious.
Join me for more thoughts about how we can connect the dots between each facet of our lives and see the rich, cohesive tapestry of ourselves as we deepen and grow.
Want to hear more from me?
Click to sign up to receive my monthly newsletter Connect, Create and ResonateEmail me at hello@cassiehubert.com And for all other links to find me and my work click here. Original Artwork - Cassie Hubert & Eleanor Oliver
Original Music - Cassie Hubert
Being Spontaneous is often a highly valued creative trait, but how can we be responsive to our impulses without being caught out by them?
Today I talk about the differences between being spontaneous and being impulsive, and how we can understand better how to work and parent out of a more spontaneous place.
I shall be back with season 4 in the New Year 2022.
Have a wonderful holiday season.
What happens when you had a whole host of dreams and creative, when you used to be so clear on what you wanted and how to go and get it, but now feel as though you are floundering around in a haze of confusion, circumstances and exhaustion?
What can you do to find your feet, or better yet gain a new perspective on where you are at?
Today I share five points for approaching this place with a new perspective, for optimum growth.
So this week I'm exploring how changing our physicality can really help with our thought processes, and specifically how allowing a new thought to take hold, will naturally change the direction of our lives down a particular path - and yet, because with each new thought we are free to change direction, this should fill us with confidence because we are always able to change again, if it doesn't work.
When we, our children or those we care about are at the height of overwhelm - it can be really hard to stay calm and not react from a place of panic.
We can feel afraid of the massive nature of such emotions, and they can trigger loads of other feelings in us, making it difficult to keep a healthy perspective.
Something that has served me well is my 20minute rule.
So tune in to today's episode to hear what it is, and how we can apply it for a deeper sense of peace and connection.
If you'd like to connect with me via my email list or social media, then click here for all the links.
And if you enjoyed this or any other episodes, please share them with someone who may also find them encouraging.
With the busy holiday season on the final countdown again this year, how do you stay connected to your creativity and your sense of self, as the expectations and practical tasks ramp up?
I really think that learning to take space to check in with yourself and your reasons can be really helpful.
So I have 5 principles to share with you today.
If you'd like to connect, click here for all the links.
Check out The Lazy Genius here.
Why do we do the things we do?
Why do we take on certain projects over others, what is driving the decision and how much are we paying attention to these reasons?
Today I explore the process of asking questions of ourselves to get to the deeper places of our hearts, and how that insight and understanding will help us connect more deeply with our work and our parenting.
Today join me for a chat about sitting with and navigating some of these big emotions in our work, our families and for ourselves.
Do you have loads of ideas, but never seem to find the right impetus or energy to work or develop them?
Are you frustrated that you are not doing anything as well as you'd like, but know that there is more in you?
Perhaps you are trying to move outside of the season you are in, and that is why there is a disconnect. Today on the Pod, I talk about the importance of knowing what season you are in, in order to lean in to what really matters right now.
Lazy Genius Podcast - Kendra Adachi is brilliant!
Find me on instagram as @CreativePerformerMum
Does that question ever make you feel inadequate or like it is a cue to start proving your worth and the value of your efforts in your current season?
Perhaps we are using the wrong measure, or we simply don't know our own definition of success. This is especially true when our work (art/parenthood) and it's outcomes aren't very easy to quantify.
Do you ever feel like the idea had, of what this season of life or work you are in would be like, is actually quite different from your expectations?
Like maybe it's just way harder, or perhaps everyone around you seems to be experiencing so much more joy than you are and you are left wondering how things can be better?
Well often the answer is to re-connect with our love for the actual work itself, and re-discover what we got started in it for in the first place. So often we feel like when we love something it should just flow easily, and whilst there is some truth in that, what matters for longevity always takes continual effort and a vision for what really matters.
Connect with me, I'd love to meet you: to find me head over to my Link Tree for all the links here**.
Original Music - Cassie Hubert
Original Artwork - Eleanor Oliver and Cassie Hubert**
Welcome to our final week of Poetry Month!Today's episode brings you a selection of poems reflecting on our human capacities for Wanderings, Wonder & Love, and I am really excited to share them with you the Winners of My Poetry Prize Draw!
They Are Anna, Bev, Jennie and Pete, so hurrah for these guys!
I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud - William Wordsworth
One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII - Pablo Neruda, Translates by Mark Eisner (requested by Bev)To My Dear and Loving Husband - Anne Bradstreet
The Son- George HerbertThe Road Not Taken - Robert Frost (requested by Jennie) More About People - Ogden Nash (requested by Pete)
Ode To Pizza - Cassie Hubert
Frost at Midnight -Samuel Taylor Coleridge (requested by Anna)
Welcome to Week Three of Poetry Month!Today's episode brings you a selection of poems reflecting on this funny old life - to do with life, relationships and self and I am really excited to share them with you today, they are :
You, Reader, As I Imagine You - Chase Twichell
Won't You Celebrate With Me? - Lucille Clifton
A Daughter's Difficulties As A Wife.... - Ann Stevenson
A Marriage- RS Thomas
Silence - Marianne Moore
Epitaph - Lady Catherine Dyer
A Refusal To Mourn - Derek Mahon
Longing - Cassie Hubert
Welcome to week two of Poetry Month!Today's episode brings you a selection of poems reflecting on mother's and motherhood, and I am really excited to share them with you today, they are :
First Miracle - AE Stallings
Morning Song - Sylvia Plath
Mother - Nikita Gill
Across Your Bed; Quietly Sinking; Hope - Cassie Hubert
Mother, A Cradle To Hold Me - Maya Angelou
Handbag - Ruth Fainlight
My Mother - Ann Taylor
Today is the first episode of Poetry Month and I have curated and performed a selection of poems for your delight on the theme of SUMMER.
Todays Poems...
The Summer Day - Mary Oliver
The Swing - Robert Louis Stevenson
Sonnet 18 - William Shakespeare
On The Move - Thom Gunn
Re-Fuelling - Cassie Hubert
The Lake Isle of Innisfree - William Butler Yeats (musical arrangement and performance by Cassie Hubert)
Stars - Sarah Teasdale.
It takes a village to raise a child - we've heard, and I think it's true, but what if it also takes a village to raise our inner creative child?
Join me as I discuss how we can widen our influences and expand our pool of people who encourage us and our children with accountability, insight and connection
No it's not a description of how babies are made - Lol!
But whilst families come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, they are intended to be places of safety for us to grow, mess up and discover who we are - and in this episode, I want to explore how we can create this kind of intentional family in our work places and our homes, to nurture our creativity and relationships.
How do you nourish your own creativity?
Do you pay as much attention to your creative diet as your food?
Creative food for thought.
How often do we feel the pressure of a time limit allow us to feel like we have got lost in the race or on the journey?
I can have this thought surface often.
But what if we re-framed this, recognising that when we can abandon the idea of those arbitrary time limits, we could actually focus on walking out our own unique adventure?
I believe it would it release us from a fair amount of that stress we can carry, allowing us to be more present, and we will probably end up at the best destination for us anyhow - just without some of the worry.
Join me today as I explore this.
As human beings we love story, it's often how we process our experiences, and is usually the most effective catalyst for empathy.
So how does knowing what kind of stories matter most to us, help us be more connected to our artistry and motherhood?
How often are we gripping ideas so tightly that we are afraid to question them in case our worlds fall apart?
Or perhaps we are just nervous of what a change in direction direction might mean.
I think that when we hold things lightly and remain open to growth, we find ourselves freer to move and follow the joy in our relationships and within our creativity.
How often do you find yourself saying no to things which potentially scare you, or which you think might make you look foolish?
How often as a parent do you find yourself bandying around the dreaded 'NO' word more than you like?
I know the struggle is real people!
But there is a real joy to be found in saying yes, and by allowing ourselves to be more playful, we can actually deepen our connection within our relationships and gain greater insight.
How often have you been to a production of Shakespeare and thought it sounded very Shakespearean but didn't really understand a lot of what was going on?
We have a sort of impression that Shakespeare has to sound a certain way to be done right, but this isn't true, but instead often puts up a barrier between the company and the audience, and gets in the way of our connecting with the story.
In the same way having a 'Talking To Children' voice will also out up a barrier between us and the other smaller humans we engage with, because it puts an Us and Them idea into the conversation and subsequently disconnects us.
Do you ever feel like time is running out and you are going to miss your chance to be successful?
Does that pressure mean that you are often struggling to make meaningful work?
I suggest in this episode that we should throw out the clock and ignore its voice, in favour of leaning in to the present.
How often do we stop to consider how we make our moves as mothers?
Just as we can approach the moves of our character on stage intuitively from the inside out, or externally based on the outside picture it makes, we can approach motherhood the same way. It's all a search for resonance, truth, clarity and what is right for each individual.
How often have you heard words to the effect, that to praise someone would give them a big head?
And how often has timely, honest, encouragement been exactly what you needed to keep going and take new ground?
In this episode, I talk about how as artists and mothers we have the tremendous opportunity to encourage our children and our fellow artists, enabling them to discover greater clarity and eloquence, and that to do so is an act of generosity.
How can we connect with our creative inner world, if we are charging about like headless chickens, too stressed out and busy to give room for creative ideas to grow and develop?
We can't really, so we need to slow down long enough to catch the inspiration.
The same goes for growing and developing our relationships.
How often have you heard this statement?
I have heard it many times, but I would like to suggest that it's meaning is not as simple as it implies... perhaps there is something deeper at the heart of this statement that we can connect with.
How on earth can we fit the continuing of our professional development, in amongst the day to day of a full on mothering?
The only way I know, is to do lots of little, incremental bursts throughout the day to day... it keeps your skills sharp and builds connection with your kids at the same time.
Whilst this can feel hugely insufficient, I think that if we can learn to shift our perspective, we will see how much opportunity there is to grow, right at the heart of our family life.
Original music - Cassie Hubert
Original artwork - Eleanor Oliver and Cassie Hubert
SO MANY PASSIONS, BUT JUST ONE LIFE!
You love your family and want to invest deeply in those relationships.
You love your craft and want to invest in and grow that too.
AND you want to live from a place of deep peace and connectedness - not buying in to the frazzle and hustle culture.
You’re convinced that there is a way to hold it all in a happy tension, BUT HOW?
When you are creative, passionate and curious about so many things… sometimes you just need a little help connecting the dots.
Welcome to the 'Connecting The Dots' podcast, and join me, Cassie Hubert, as I explore the joys, challenges and questions that come from pursuing a life of depth and connection.
**Because it really is all about family, artistry and everything in between.
More from me can be found on cassiehubert.com**