Mind Over Medium
A Podcast for artists who want to make money doing what they love. Each week you will learn how to attract your ideal commissions, approach galleries for representation, have a great online launch of your work and how to do it all with less overwhelm and confusion. You will hear from amazing artists who will share how they have built their successful creative businesses. My hope is to create a space where artists and the creative curious can learn about one of the most important tools creative entrepreneurs need in their tool box, their mindset.
Mind Over Medium
You got a Problem, I've got a Prompt. Healing Through Journaling with Ashley Wright
Unlock the transformative power of journaling with insights from our special guest, Ashley Wright, the renowned journaling coach and founder of Strokes of Freedom. Ashley opens up about her journey, sharing her passion for journaling, the impact it had on her during the 2020 lockdown, and how it can help artists achieve their creative goals. She even offers three exclusive journaling prompts tailored just for artists! Plus, don't miss the exciting announcement about my upcoming studio sale, and how you can get early access by joining my email list.
Discover how journaling can enhance mental clarity and self-awareness through a variety of journal types, from large 8x11 formats to tiny, portable notebooks. Learn about the therapeutic benefits of externalizing thoughts onto paper to interrupt repetitive mental loops and gain clearer perspectives. We also discuss how journaling provides a private, judgment-free space for self-exploration and helps in achieving a concise understanding of your emotions and intentions before involving others in your personal narrative.
We delve into personal stories of transformation through creative exploration and self-expression. Hear how acknowledging emotions can lead to significant healing and better communication in personal relationships. Overcoming barriers like fear of judgment and embracing the liberating experience of writing without self-critique are key themes. We wrap up by sharing valuable journaling advice to help artists reconnect with their work and explore creativity without constraints. Tune in for an episode that celebrates the joy of creativity, healing, and personal growth through the art of journaling.
Connect with Ashley Here and on Instagram
Shop Lea Ann's Studio Sale here
Hey everybody, before we get to the episode, I wanted to give you a heads up that I am going to have a studio sale. I haven't done this in probably three or four years, so it's very exciting. I'm excited to clean out my studio and pass along the goodness and the benefits to y'all. It will go live to the public on July 29th, but if you're on my email list, I'm going to release it to people on my email list on the 28th, so you'll get a full day if you're on my email list to shop the studio sale. So you can, if you're not already on my list, go ahead and get on it in the link below in the show notes and if you have any questions, just reach out. You can find me on Instagram.
Lea Ann:Thanks, welcome to Mind Over Medium, a podcast for artists who want to make money doing what they love. When you tune in each week, you will learn how to attract your ideal commissions approach, galleries for representation, have a great online launch of your work and how to do it all with less overwhelm and confusion. You will have the opportunity to hear from amazing artists who will share how they have built their successful, creative businesses. My hope is to create a space where artists and the creative curious can gather to learn about one of the most important tools creative entrepreneurs need in their toolbox their mindset. Thanks so much for tuning in to Mind Over Medium podcast. Let's get started.
Lea Ann:Thanks so much for tuning in to Mind Over Medium podcast. Let's get started. Hello everyone, welcome back to the podcast. Today I am excited to introduce you to Ashley Wright. Ashley is the journaling coach as well as the founder of Strokes of Freedom, a group coaching program focused on you guessed it journaling. In this episode you will hear so much goodness and wisdom about the power of journaling and how it can really support your creative goals. She also gives us three really juicy journaling prompts just for artists. I hope you enjoy. Hello friends, I'm excited for today's chat with Ashley Wright. It's so good to see you, so great to see you. First, let me say thank you for being here. It really means a lot and I'm excited for people to get to know you. Of course, but in order for them to do that, introduce yourself, tell us who you are, what you do, all the things.
Ashley:Awesome. Yeah, so I am Ashley Wright. I am the journaling coach and the proud creator and owner of Strokes of Freedom, which is a business that I started a few years ago that has a focus on helping people mend and heal through the art of writing, and so, for me, I love conversations, I love questions, I love exploring people's brains, like with them, sometimes without them you know how that goes, I think it's for me. I find this great joy in listening to people and giving people space to be themselves, like to tell their story their way, and so that's what I'm allowed to do, like through my business, which I think is just so amazing. But I'm from a teeny, tiny, small town. I currently live in Charlotte, north Carolina, though, which is home for the past 12 years, I guess, though, which is home for the past 12 years, I guess. But yeah, I'm all things nature, all things fun, all things creative. Just yeah, I love it all.
Lea Ann:Yeah, it's great. Well, you can see behind you like your background is fabulous. Well, I asked everybody this question and I gave you a heads up, so I'm going to ask you to describe a time in your life when you felt the most creative.
Ashley:So, when I tell you this is a very interesting question, because, for me, I normally like have a response like very quickly when I'm asked the question. So I read this in a couple of different times and the only thing that kept coming back to me was like 2020, the year 2020. Yes, because, of course, we were like on lockdown, couldn't really go anywhere. That's when I discovered TikTok, so as did the rest of the world, right and so. But yeah, I remember that being a time where I felt like I was really tapping more into like what do I want to do, what content do I want to put out into the world. There weren't, like any limitations, like at all.
Ashley:So I feel like that year and the following years is probably when I felt like most creative, because I was learning something new that didn't have parameters like, oh, you have to do it this way, you have to do it that way, and so, between lip syncing videos, attempting to do dancing videos and uncovering more about who I am as a content creator, I would say that's probably the most creative like time for me, just that full on year of just up at 4am just watching videos, thinking through ideas. I felt like my brain was just more open of just like what's possible, what can I create? What you know? What do I want for it to look like? And in that time, asking myself, like what feels most fun and like I think that let me really create without any bounds at all.
Lea Ann:Yeah, yeah, such a weird time. And did you start making sourdough bread Like a lot of people did? No, it's so funny.
Ashley:I just had that conversation with someone maybe a week ago. I didn't get into, I did buy plants. I bought plants. I did not buy a bike and I did not make sourdough bread but pretty much anything else. Now my plants did, my succulents for sure did not make it, but anything else I definitely tried. But yeah, it was so funny to see people kind of yeah, I guess I go in more inward with certain things. I'm like let me bake the bread or let me do this and try different things out, but no, I did not get on the bread baking trend.
Lea Ann:Yes, I did for a hot minute. It was not great. I'm like I can just buy it, it's fine.
Ashley:I'll let someone else make it for me. Well, they say, sour though is tricky in and of itself, though. So yeah, it's a whole process.
Lea Ann:Yeah, well, I love your answer because, while that was a trying time, it was also a time where it, like you said, the boundaries kind of loosened up. So you're like all these things that I've thought about like, oh, one day I'll do this, or if I only had time, I'd do this. So that's great, that's really good.
Ashley:Yeah, we were given like such a big gift of time and like lots of it Right. So either we were working some, but maybe not as much as we were prior to the pandemic, but, yeah, it was one of those things of I think, too was like slowing down enough to also be inspired by other people who were creating Right, and so it's like sometimes when you're on the go, you don't really stop and pause and just appreciate the fact that, wow, like someone really thought that this was a great idea and then they executed it. But just to be able to really be like more inspired around that time amidst everything else that was happening, it was like here's the ray of sunshine. The ray of sunshine is that people are creating, they're trying out those things that they've told themselves for years they were going to do, and it was. I think. Yeah, I think I was super inspired around that time and that helped me to create even more.
Lea Ann:Yeah, that's great. Well, I thought it'd be great fun to have you on the podcast, because there's a huge community of art journalers out there in the world. I don't know if you know about them or if you're into that at all, but with your coaching background and bringing coaching to journaling, I thought it would be a fun discussion about the journaling practice and how to maybe combine that with the art journaling practice and all the things. So, with that being said, tell me, how long have you been doing this Like journaling, writing?
Ashley:Love the question. So, even though I do not look a day over 25, I've probably been like journaling in some aspect or in some capacity for about maybe like a 23, 23, 25 years, professionally like as the journaling coach has been for about the past seven years, and so with that, I've dabbled in art journaling or even like Bible journaling, and I have just not found my groove there just yet. It is something, of course, that I admire because I think it again, it takes the limits off of creativity and it blends things that people love. So people do love reading their Bible, but hey, they're also going to add art to that. Or if someone I had a pop-up recently where I'd given someone a journaling prompt and so they wrote it in the center of the page and, kind of like an artist sketchbook type of thing, they wrote the prompt but then around the prompt is where they did their actual writing and all these different colors, and so some people do like drawings for their writing, you know, in place of that, which I find very admirable. But yeah, and to answer your question, yeah, seven years in terms of being like a journaling coach, and I think just the evolution that I've seen in the journaling space, like over the seven years. That's been really, really, really cool Because there again, there's no limits. People can literally do any and everything.
Ashley:And what I found is that for me, I have several different journals and so oftentimes when I'm talking to clients or people who are curious about journaling, I'm like you can have a journal for every like area of your life. So I have an idea journal, so when those random, like two o'clock in the morning ideas pop in or something of that nature, I'm able to just get it out of my brain. For once I don't forget because yes, yeah, but I'm able to get it out of my brain. But I also have like a journal that is like that one's just for my creative ideas. The only thing that I notate in there is stuff is like oh, I can try this out, or I can try that out, or what would this look like. So I think that that, to me, is one thing that I would love for people to rest in. More is that journaling can look so many different ways and it can apply and support in every area of their lives.
Lea Ann:That's so interesting and what a good idea, because I just keep one journal and do everything in it and then it's real hard to find stuff. Not the best system, but I can generally have an idea of when and can go back to. So you, okay, this is, this is like a visual question Are all your journals the same type? Okay, so you'll just like I pick up anything everywhere.
Ashley:Yeah, I did a podcast episode maybe a few weeks ago where I was answering like some of the most commonly asked questions about journaling and people often ask like, oh, is there a particular journal that you recommend? Do I need to buy it from somewhere? Are there certain pens? I would go to Ross, tj, maxx, marshalls, I'll go to stationary stores and all of that too.
Ashley:But to me, I look at the design of the journal. If it speaks to me in that moment, it's coming home with me. There's no way I can leave it on the shelf. But yeah, I have eight by 11 type journals. I have teeny, tiny ones that I can carry in my purse. I have other ones that I only use, like for my journaling pop-ups wire bound, leather bound, it doesn't matter. Yes, I use them all. And I think too, the. I think sometimes journals have such character like with them, like when I see some of them, I'm like, okay, this is what I can use for X, y or Z, and so I think, yeah, sometimes they tell me kind of what they want to be used for, in a way. So that's why there's no one type of journal that I purchase at all. It's just that, yeah, whatever is like on the shelf, that is super pretty, or it can be very simple as well, but just something that when I see it, I'm like, okay, I have use for this and, honestly, sometimes I don't have use for them.
Lea Ann:You can never have too many. You can never have too many I know I'm with you on that one, I love something I heard you say about journaling. You said journaling helps you see what is actually happening versus what you're telling yourself.
Ashley:Ooh, yes. How much time do we have Because that we got all the time in the world. How much time do we have Because that we got all the time in the world. It's so interesting. The brain will like offer you so many stories, right. It will offer you so much information, more information than what you really need.
Ashley:And so for me, for myself and for my clients that I support, I'm like journaling just helps you. For one, just dump it all out and then, on the pages, you can see what's real. You can see what's real, you can see what's factual, you can pull out more of that story that you're telling yourself. And so I think that's why I love exposing people to the practicality of journaling. It's a pen, it's a pencil, it's a crayon and a sheet of paper, right, and in that, for the most part, everyone has access to that in some form.
Ashley:And so I think that the more we loop on a story that's in our brain, the more we start to believe it, because we're telling ourselves this over and over, we're connecting, you know, this story to that story.
Ashley:We're like knitting the whole sweater, and it's like you know, it's like you don't need a sweater Sometimes, you just need to buy one. And so I think that with journaling, it helps you to see it in like the simplest of terms, without the complications. What I'll say is, without the complications of our emotions, because we're still very emotional in our brains too, because we're trying to figure it out. But putting it on the pages helps you just to see what it is and what it isn't. And it helps you to interrupt the story, because we can continue with the story in our own brains, but on paper it's like you know, what Do I love? Like what's here? Do I want to continue living in this? Do I want to continue believing this? And so you begin to make an agreement with yourself about whether you do or whether you don't. And I think the power of journaling is that it gives you the opportunity to actually do that, versus just staying inside of your head.
Lea Ann:Yeah, and I love what you said too. It gives you options, because when you're just in your head there's one, you're just going in one direction one direction and most times it's just backwards and forwards.
Ashley:again on the same road.
Ashley:It opens you up to the options that are available to you. And one thing I love telling anyone that I talked to about journaling the pages really just like listen. They're not like trying to give you advice and not giving you guidance and not like interrupting, just like listen. They're not like trying to give you advice and not giving you guidance and not like interrupting to say, well, here's what I would do. The pages are just there like for your own, like private exploration, for you just to understand or even get a glimpse into what you're thinking about, what story you're telling yourselves. And so it's like the pages kind of give you what's the phrase I want to use. It's almost like they just give you like the first glance, like a sneak peek at what's more real than what you're telling yourself. Before you involve, like other people and other opinions, the pages just help you to see what it is and what it isn't.
Lea Ann:Almost like a rough draft.
Ashley:Yes, that is perfect. That is perfect Because there's for me and for a few other people that I'm connected to as well. There are sometimes certain conversations that we want to have and we play it over in our brains I'm going to say this and they're going to say that 10 times out of 10, it does not go that way, right, but I think with the pages it helps you get the clarity that you need. So you know how to approach the conversation.
Ashley:If I leave the conversation with anything, what do I want to accomplish? What do I want to say? So that way you're gifting that to yourself and to the people you're having a dialogue with, because you're more concise, you know exactly. Hey, here's what I want to say. I'm not anticipating their response, but it gives you that clarity, like on the paper, and we operate best in spaces of clarity, like when our brains are more clean. We're able to go into a space, have words, have whatever conversation, and feel like we've let ourselves hear ourselves first before we try to have someone else hear us, and I think that's like the gift that pages give to you.
Lea Ann:Well, yeah, and you can also decide. Do I really need to have the conversation?
Ashley:Is it even that important?
Lea Ann:Yeah.
Ashley:It's kind of like I'll ask my friends. I'm like, am I tripping, like is it me? But it's like the pages are that same thing. It's just like, let me really see if this is even a thing, If it's a me thing, if it's like an eternal thing, if it's a let me invite these other people into this thing. Or was it just one of those days where I was maybe a little more sensitive than another or where I just maybe had too much going on? I misunderstood something? It really helps you decide what battles, so to speak, you actually want to choose, because some of them stay.
Ashley:A lot of mine, say, in the pages, honey, I'm like oh it was me, or maybe it's just one of those things like, oh, it really isn't a big deal and I just keep it moving.
Lea Ann:Well, I would think too, that would help you and your clients recognize patterns.
Ashley:Oh for sure that when I think about cycles and patterns, even when I think about journals from 2017 or you know any other year, if I run across those and I'm reading, I'm like, oh, like you've been here before, here's what was happening. Or oh, wow, you get to celebrate, like you, same situation, you dealt with it totally differently, right. But journaling does, keeping record of our lives, our experiences. It just helps us document so that way we can go back and see is this something that continues to happen throughout life? If so, what's normally going on around me, what's normally going on in me, and is this a cycle that I'm excited about or one that I want to end? But, yeah, cycles and patterns, because the pages, they tell you the truth about yourself. When we're honest, right, when we're honest with what we're thinking and what we're feeling, we put that on paper and it gives us room to actually, like you know, visit with ourselves, like what we believe, what we think, how we operate and what different patterns and cycles we find ourselves in.
Lea Ann:I mean it really goes so well with the creative. It is a creative practice but like a visual creative practice as well, because one it's very personal. It's a place to work ideas out. You can show people or not. I mean it's just. It really is just a lovely. They go so well together.
Ashley:And what I'll add to that too. Someone was asking me the other day I did like an Instagram live and someone was asking do I ever go back to a writing or to a prompt, do I ever go back to finish it? And I was like, well, journaling is art. Art is never finished, you know, you can make a tweak here, make a change there, start over entirely, because your vision for it may change. And I look at my journaling practice in that same way, because by the time I finished one prompt, it's left me with other questions, other curiosities, and that's where I pick up from. I don't necessarily go back to the original prompt, and so it's ever evolving, just like art, because it is a matter of there's so many parts of us at play. So there's like the different parts of our brain, there's who we are emotionally, there's like the logical side of who we are, there's our lived experience. All of that is like being poured out on, like this blank canvas, you know, for us just to create and and leave record, I think, of like of our presence, leave record of our thoughts, and so, yeah, it's, it's never finished at all. Yeah, Do you have a writing background? I do not. Okay, yeah, journaling. Journaling for me. I'm trying to think back.
Ashley:For me, I didn't, like grow up in a household that was, oh, tell me about your day and how are you feeling, or can you pass the mashed potatoes? That is not what we would do, and so with that, I remember just is that paired with. I was very much that child in school where it's like, oh, she's so intelligent and she's so this, but she talks a little too much, like she can just tweak that a little bit. So I started to learn that, oh, wow, like maybe my voice is not something that like needs to be heard. Like, maybe, if talking too much is a bad thing, I need to just be more reserved. But I always found that I had just so much. I've always been a thinker, and so in that I'm like I need something that kind of just like lets me put this like onto the pages. And so I would just journal, you know, sometimes short stories, sometimes poems, sometimes just like about my day, about an experience, about something my mama said that I wasn't a fan of. You know all those different things. Or in middle school, you know the, the middle school drama, and and so it was just one of those things that I would just continue over the years.
Ashley:And so, a few years ago, I had gone through like my very first breakup and I was like, oh my gosh, life is over. Like what is this Feeling, all the things, thinking all the things, and, in the effort to like, keep me from like unraveling, I'm like, let me just, I have to go back like to writing more consistently. And so at that point, I wrote every single day, be it letters to like or, you know, like notes to my ex-boyfriend, be it just prayers, be it just me talking to myself, me like rehashing certain things. My brain was like it's got, it has to go somewhere, like it's not here. And so, yes, I just started kind of writing more then, and one night I was just like crying on my floor, like just sprawled out, just journaling. I'm like God, this cannot be all that happens. I'm crying everywhere. I'm crying in the shower, I'm crying in the car, I'm crying at work, and I remember it just being like very known in terms of God saying to me give this back to other people. So, like the same way that writing, you know, and telling your story your way, the same way as helping you to mend and to heal, like share this with everyone else. And so at that point, like that's just like what I started doing.
Ashley:So I didn't have like an official introduction to journaling or to writing or anything of that nature. It was one of those things of just knowing that well, not knowing at the time, right, but knowing now that it was definitely connected and building something else in me. But yeah, it was just. It was a way to express myself, a way to be vocal without talking, since I talk too much, and all of those things. Then now it's just morphed into. It's a very beautiful experience that I'm honored to create space for people to release, for people to decompress, because, again, it's practical and it's also life changing. It's like the power that someone gains or like regifts themselves by just writing and being honest and being open. It just is. So the transformations that I've been able to witness is just like, ok, it was all worth it. I'll do it all over again, the same exact way, but yeah, that's great.
Lea Ann:Are you familiar with Julia Cameron?
Ashley:I'm not the Artist's Way.
Lea Ann:Oh yeah, Okay, good world know that. And I've, I've. You know, I'm embarrassed to say I've never completed the artist's way, but I've gotten about halfway through it. It is a goal, but one of her big things is morning pages, and but it's more. I mean the way I view it. You're supposed to write three pages, I think, and I can't remember exactly, but it's more of a brain dump. Um, yours sounds a little bit more directed or purposeful, is that true?
Ashley:It's a combination. So what I offer to people is whenever I sit down to write, and what I share with my clients. We're not writing to reach a certain goal or to reach a certain end, it's just a matter of like, letting it just be out. So I love guided prompts, because oftentimes I meet people that are like I don't know where to start, so it's like you give them a blank page. It's kind of intimidating, it's like, oh, just write, it'll come to you, and it's like no, so for me, I love offering a prompt just because it gets the brain going. I've realized that halfway through, or less than halfway through, their writing, more of what they needed to discuss is actually coming up, be it that it related to the prompt or not. And so, very stream of consciousness of just hey, just allow for yourself, allow for this prompt to take you, like where it can take you, but you're not trying to reach a certain end point or destination. And you may have heard me say this too.
Ashley:I oftentimes talk about how exploration leads to discovery, to where we're just exploring. We're exploring our brain, we're exploring our nervous system, we're exploring just us as an individual. You're just letting yourself explore based on the guided prompt and then you're going to discover something along the way, be it something that you wanted to discover or not, there's going to for sure be something that comes up. So it's rare for me to just sit in front of a blank page and just like start to write, unless I have something on my mind that I want to celebrate or acknowledge or something I want to process. But for the most part I always kick off with a prompt just to get, like, my brain, kind of more engaged before my subconscious takes over.
Lea Ann:Yeah, that makes sense. Now, if you were going to give some examples of prompts for someone who's creative artist that maybe wants to get into journaling, or already has an art journaling practice, but maybe doesn't do the writing portion, maybe just more of the like, putting things on paper, like drawing. What would you not to put you on the spot? But I'm going to put you on the spot.
Ashley:And I love that you put me on the spot, because the very first thing that came to mind was like colors. So say, if I am, you know, choosing to write, I maybe would ask you know, the color yellow makes me feel and just allows myself like to write from there. And people can put in whatever color pink, gray, you know, mauve, whatever, whatever they want to add in. Also, too, I think people being able to revisit what art is to them so, and that could be them creating like an actual acronym for the word art and just allowing for their brain to see, okay, what comes to mind when I think about art, or the greatest gift art has given me, and it's allowing for themselves to even explore that.
Ashley:I think sometimes people start out like with their why and understanding their why, and like loving what they're doing. But I think, along the way, it's always great to remind yourself, like why am I connected to this? Right? Like why is this connected to me? What, what? How do I benefit from it? How does the world benefit from me putting art out? And that's the whole prompt in and of itself, because it also emphasizes and reinforces the importance of belief in self. I believe that what I'm putting out into the world is making a difference. I believe that it's making an impact and I think that that helps people to honor their giftings specific to art. It helps them to honor those giftings a lot more.
Lea Ann:Absolutely. Those are great.
Ashley:And you are on it. I tell people you got a problem. I got a prompt like whatever it is, I need that on a t-shirt. I do need it. I need it on a t-shirt and I need it on a hat.
Lea Ann:Yes, definitely so. Do you ever like? What kind of transformations have you seen?
Ashley:I love this question too. It's so funny One of my girlfriends she often has to remind me of the transformations that I've helped people to accomplish. So at my pop-ups I host those here in Charlotte. It's typically women who come like to the pop-ups At some point, maybe about a year ago, there was one particular man like who started to come and he just started to come like very frequently, start to come like very frequently and at first very like, you know, kind of chill on the sidelines, like he would engage some, but he always, for the first few he came to he would start off saying I don't really have emotions, I don't have feelings, I'm just here, we're like, okay, sure, all right.
Ashley:After a few, his particular transformation, the way he started to share more and like, own his feelings and honor his feelings and recognize them and not like, weaponize them, like against himself, that is probably that's like the first one that comes to mind because for him as as a man and as a black man, it was very important, like for him it was almost real and true that, oh, I don't have feelings, these things don't exist, so just for him to allow for himself to commit like to coming and like, oh you, you know the fellowship is great, you know I'm here. But for it to be that he really started to tap more into what he was actually feeling, the healing that he's been able to experience after that and like release, releasing old things, that's probably one of the very first transformations. Like that comes to mind. That comes to mind, yeah, that's. I carry that in my heart all the time because it's just like it's to go from believing you don't have to like celebrating them and helping other people celebrate their feelings.
Ashley:It's like who are you Like? Where did you come from? Another one that comes to mind I had a client I was supporting and she felt as though, like within her marriage, she was not making like a lot of like contribution, and more so from like a monetary standpoint. So for her she's like well, just help me brainstorm, like you know, some business ideas and what can I do here, what can I do there? So I'm like, well, let's pause before we go there, let's actually just talk about, like more of what's prompting you to want to do this.
Ashley:And so in her brain she had it that her husband didn't feel as though she was contributing. And I'm like, well, have you inquired with him? Like, have you asked him like, hey, am I contributing enough? What does that look like? And she's just like, oh, no, I haven't.
Ashley:So she's trying to do all this work like on her own, trying to think of all these plans the entire time. He's just like you do this around the house, you do this for the kids. You blah, blah, blah. You support me in this way. For her, that gosh, I can see her face now. It released her from like this weight of pressure that she had to go out and get a job and do this and do that all because she chose to check in with him. But it was like through our writing and through our coaching together she realized like, oh, if I just include him in the conversation, I can make my life easier, which makes our marriage easier, and I'm not having to find 10,000 different jobs that you know in today's type of thing, I think people releasing themselves from one.
Ashley:I think a transformation in that is releasing yourself from the expectation that you have to do it all on your own, that you have to figure it out on your own. The other layer of that is, yeah, inviting people into the conversation for them to offer, like, their insight and their input about how they're experiencing you. But, yeah, I think the recognition of feelings, even like the acceptance of the not so great feelings, has been a large transformation for people too, of just no longer resisting fear or resisting anxiety or resisting grief. It's like letting them know all of those things serve like their purpose has been pretty cool to witness. And oh my gosh, I could go on and on, because there's I've learned that people have different standards that they live by and they haven't investigated where those standards come from. So I've had clients who are just like, oh, you know, if some other parent would have parented their 15 year old this way, or they would have made a different decision at the job, you know, as a leader at their job.
Ashley:And in my brain I'm like why is it that we, you know, forsake who we are, that we feel like our uniqueness is not worth celebrating, or that we second guess how we handle things or someone else would have done it better, someone else is more qualified or someone else is more prepared, and so, in that, being able to see people create their own standard for themselves, for how they want to live their lives, for how they want to show up as a parent, as a boss, as a friend, as a partner, it lets them honor again, honor that uniqueness, and it lets them kind of release that pressure that they're putting on themselves to be a certain way, when it's like, no, the people chose you.
Ashley:They didn't choose this other version of you, right, they chose who you are. So I think people getting like getting having experiencing their own freedom again all through, like writing, and that's like, with Strokes of Freedom, it's like you can write your way to your own freedom. Don't wait for me to tell you that, oh, you're free now. Don't wait for your coach, don't wait for your pastor, like don't wait for your friend, like you get to decide when you want to change the story, like when you want to change the narrative. And I think that's the biggest transformation of people reaching that awareness, being enlightened and realizing like I have a say in how my life goes oh my gosh.
Lea Ann:Yeah, I mean, that's why people are drawn to the creative things because it allows you to explore and you can explore quietly if you want, just for yourself. It opens things up and it uses a different part of your brain that we generally don't use. I mean, yeah, I totally understand that and I see that with artists all the time too. And another thing you said that was so interesting was those old narratives that we carry with us, because I see that in my community a lot like you know, the whole starving artist thing. I mean that and art's not really a job and you can't make money as an artist. So really exploring those ideas and thoughts, and is that true?
Ashley:And it's a very simple question of just like yeah, is that true? And even if parts of certain things are true, do I want to make it true for me? Exactly, I think that's where people, too, get to decide on their art journey and all of those things Like even if that were true for this other group of people, it does. I get to decide, like, how I want for my journey to be and it's like cool, that worked for them. But I don't have to be a starving artist. I can be a well-fed artist. I can be an artist that has everything that I need and I still get the liberty and freedom to create and do all the things. So it is about reframing and asking yourself, like what do I want to believe, no matter what has already been paved out for other people, what do I want to believe about my own specific journey and situation?
Lea Ann:Yeah.
Ashley:That's really good.
Lea Ann:You mentioned that that's such a gift when people discover that, it's really amazing.
Ashley:It's so liberating Cause, then I think it's almost like kind of becoming like a new creature, almost, because you've been a creature of this particular habit or a creature of this mindset. And then it's like all of a sudden it's like, oh, wow, what, like, all of this is open to me. And then you get to decide like what is, yeah, what's my new experience going to be? Like, if I had to, if I had to say so, what would this look like for me? And then I keep living in that and it can be uncomfortable, but it's going to be uncomfortable, yeah for sure, yes.
Lea Ann:It's going to be quite uncomfortable, but it's worth it.
Ashley:Yeah, it's totally worth it, and I think if people told themselves that at the beginning of things, like because we can't see the end, right but it is a matter of like yeah, it's going to be totally worth it.
Ashley:Like I can decide right now that whatever journey they're on, be it in their artistry, whether you're just starting out or, you know, starting a new project, it's going to be totally worth it. All because of what I discover about myself along the way, what I create along the way. It's just. It's so worth it to be uncomfortable it really is.
Lea Ann:Yeah, and generally we're uncomfortable anyway, it's just like we're doing it unconsciously and might as well choose it.
Ashley:Choose it on purpose.
Lea Ann:Yeah, Choose it on purpose.
Ashley:Oh, this is so. I love this conversation Me too.
Lea Ann:I could just keep going. So do you find that you have a barrier to entry to clients, or people have a barrier to entry? It's like I'm not a good writer or I can't spell, or anything like that. Does that keep people from exploring?
Ashley:It does. And one thing that I normally share around that is kind of like when I'm either in coaching sessions or at my pop ups, I'm like no one's going to read this. Write it as though it's just you and the pages Failing, cannot, like, don't even think about those things. Like, don't think about, like your handwriting, just allow for it to be, that you let yourself explore, that you let yourself express. But I think those I'll use the word like trivial or superficial things I do come to mind, because for so often, those things are critiqued. Right, there's oh, like your handwriting is so sloppy, or oh, you misspelled that, or you know, your punctuation is off. Who cares? I am journaling for myself, I'm journaling just to get this out, I'm journaling to explore and to have a conversation with myself, but those things do come up for people.
Ashley:The biggest one, though, is what I mentioned a moment ago is like the fear that someone else is going to read it. Oh yeah, that comes up often for people, either because they've experienced that, like in the past, or again when they choose to be honest with themselves. It's like okay, if I'm just starting out being honest with me, I'm not trying to be honest with the rest of the world, right, you know like what if this ends up on, you know, the internet or whatever. But yeah, people have like those hesitations and concerns and they're all very valid because of what we've been conditioned.
Ashley:But the liberty that you get to find and just letting yourself, not critique yourself, just letting yourself write, it's a whole different like freedom that you get to experience, because then you're more engaged with the writing. You're engaged in a different way. You're not overly critical while you're writing. You don't have all these inhibitions, you're just like hey, it's me and the pages and I'm just going to write.
Ashley:And I think it's like, without that pressure to get it right, you realize, where else in life am I trying to get it right? So the writing process allows for you just to say I'm just going to, I'm going to wing it, I'm just going to get out here and do it. And I think that starts to seep into other areas of life too, where it's like no, I've never built a house, but I'll do it, like I'll figure it out, I'm just going to wing it. The foundation may be a little rocky, but I think that, yes, it helps you to stop questioning other areas in life when you find yourself being able to be free of criticism just between you and the pages.
Lea Ann:Well, and I can imagine too it might be the first time that someone has allowed themselves to let go of those rules, the rigidity, the expectations, and even just in this small journal, that can feel really intimidating.
Ashley:It can feel intimidating and then it starts to feel empowering. But yeah, it's very much. It's the amount of people I've seen, like you know, I may give like some prompts and stuff and they kind of sit there for a little bit and they're, like you know, kind of dabble here, dabble there, and they kind of sit back some and I'm just, you know, observing and all of that. Most times I'll insert this is a space and time for you. You get to write as much or as little as you want, so that way they slowly start to just realize like okay, like I'm safe here, my thoughts are safe here, I'm just exploring. But yeah, I think it's very, very intimidating because sometimes we don't want to know the truth, like about ourselves or about a situation, and all of that because once we have the knowledge, we can't forget it right.
Lea Ann:Yeah, you can't unsee it.
Ashley:You cannot unsee it. But after a while you start to realize just the benefits of you being honest with you, because then you're more honest with other people, your awareness is just heightened so much more and you again get to decide like what do I want for me? And all of that again just from the practical of a pen and a sheet of paper. You again just from the practical of a pen and a sheet of paper. I think that's what I always just find so fascinating. So even for, like the art journaling, by the time that people are adding those elements and layers in, I can only imagine like that much more freedom that they get to explore, like in their brains and in their bodies, because they're letting their mind just do what it naturally wants to do without having to be super structured. And all of that yeah.
Lea Ann:Yeah, and as adults, we don't allow time for play. And this, both these modalities, whether it's art or, you know, strictly writing allows your brain to play.
Ashley:Yeah, one of the problems I gave someone recently was how am I using my imagination against me? Of the problems I gave someone recently was how am I using my imagination against me? Our imagination was not designed to like scare us and to, you know, look us out. It was very much designed for us to be like liberated and like free flowing, and just let's just see how this goes. When I think about kids, kids they are not us.
Lea Ann:So true.
Ashley:We're thinking through all the different outcomes, all the different situations, and a child is just in the moment. We're thinking through all the different outcomes, all the different situations, and a child is just in the moment. They're just doing their thing. They are the captain, they are the dinosaur, they are at the top of the castle and I'm like that's how we get to use our imagination. So, even in art, like it's just oh, where can this go, how can this transform without it having to be one way? And I think we do lose that, like over the course of time, like when more life starts to happen. But I think that's why it's important to, even now, as adults, like to foster that imagination, to allow for yourself to just like we know what it can, how it can harm us when we're letting it. But yeah, what does it look like for our imagination just to be what it was designed to be Like? Something that was total liberty. You just figure out where it takes you.
Lea Ann:But yeah, yeah, that's great. Okay, so I'm going to go over those prompts that you gave that were great, that are geared towards artists. What, like the color blank, makes you feel what is art? And you could do art as an acronym. Tell me if I'm forgetting anything. The greatest gift art has given me, those are great prompts.
Ashley:Yeah, and then I think it just helps people to. It's like be present but also not be present, Like at the same time it's almost like you're there, you're writing, but your brain just goes on its own journey to where you're remembering certain moments about your art journey. You're remembering a piece that maybe was commissioned, Like you're just thinking about all these different things and you're just thinking about, yeah, like the gift of you as an artist and also like how that has impacted the world, but also how that gift continues to give back to you. Like I can only imagine if there's someone who you know has done a piece that they've longed to do and like to see other people experience it and talk about it. Like it's like, oh, I would think as an artist, you kind of take that in of, just like I really did the thing, Like, yeah, something great here.
Ashley:So, yeah, I think, exploring those just especially if people are maybe like in a rut, like maybe they haven't been commissioned for something in a while or maybe they're, you know, transitioning into a different field of the industry, it would be really great just to kind of explore that and see what it kickstarts inside of you, like, what newness it brings about, what creativity it sparks. I think it can go. I've literally seen one prompt go 10 different ways. So it's one of those things that lets you just kind of see, like what's there subconsciously, Like what do I want to be intentional about, what do I want to be delivered about, like in my art and my creative process? So those prompts definitely help you explore that a lot more.
Lea Ann:If you were going to give advice to someone just getting started out, what advice would you give?
Ashley:The very first thing was trust yourself. That was the first thing that came to mind. More so because you're not getting started from a place of deficit. You're getting started because there's something that happened in your brain. You're getting started because there's an idea. You're getting started because it's like oh wow, I haven't seen this or I want to see more of this. You get to trust that all the way through and trust yourself to know, like, when to shift. You know when to be open to shifting. But yeah, I think, wait, what are we talking about for art or for journaling?
Lea Ann:Oh, for journaling. I'm sorry, I should have been specific, just life in general. It might have been with life Okay cool. So specific to journaling yeah, okay, awesome.
Ashley:No specific to journaling. I think the biggest piece is honestly. It probably is like to trust yourself. But I would also say that the pages are your friend. The pages are your best confidant. The pages are. They're gentle, like they're sweet to you, like the pages are eager to hear from you. The pages are like they're sweet to you, like the pages are eager to hear from you. The pages are they're open to anything that you have to say, so nothing is off limits. And the pages are like where you get your freedom, like that's where it gets to rest. So I think when people view journaling like in that way, they're just more open to it. They're more open because they know that the pages are open. They know the pages.
Ashley:The pages don't already have an idea about you. They don't already, they don't know anything about you. Like you're informing the pages of what your story is. So it's like that to me. It feels even now. It feels like very encouraging. It's like oh, yeah, like that makes me want to write that much more. But yeah, I would say just to to let the pages have it, because they are there for that. The pages know their purpose. Yeah, that's great. Like yeah, I'm here for you Like I'm here to be written on, I'm here to receive, I'm here to support. So it's like the pages already know what they're here for. Just trust that and let yourself you know, let yourself let the pages do what they were designed to do.
Lea Ann:That's amazing. I think that you should take your pop-ups on the road and come to Atlanta.
Ashley:Hey, that's right down the street. I know right, I'm literally just three and a half four hours away. But I do want to expand. I told myself I would do a couple of smaller places here in North Carolina, but then I'm like I don't have to just be in North Carolina, I would love it.
Lea Ann:Listen, we can get that arranged, because I would love it. It's right down the road, it's Gatham on the car and down there. Great. Well, this has been so great and you just make it seem so accessible and inviting, so I really appreciate that very, very much.
Ashley:Yeah, that's the goal. The goal is for people to know that it is very accessible, like, yeah, it's not something that you really need a whole lot of tools for, even a whole lot of time for Five minutes y'all. If y'all write for five minutes, for 10 minutes, like you're doing yourself, like the being of who you are, you're doing yourself a great service.
Lea Ann:So, yes, I mean you literally need two tools Writing utensil and paper, and even two.
Ashley:Some people want to do video journaling. Some people want to do voice notes too. Some people want to do video journaling. Some people want to do voice notes. Even that, like, you've got your phone, your tablet, your computer, any of those things, it's just a matter of making sure that it doesn't stay inside of your head, because if it's in your head, it's going to be in your body at some point, and we don't want that.
Lea Ann:Yes, we got to get that moving through. Well, where can people find you?
Ashley:Awesome question. So, social media wise, I am strokes of freedom on Instagram. My website is strokes of freedom dot com, and on my website you'll find information about my journaling groups, my one on one and all of those things. I have very much created and I can say this in total confidence a space like where you get to decompress and release and just be like with other people, but also in the privacy of like your own pages, and so that's something that's super sweet and dear to me. But, yeah, that's where you can find me. You can join my email list for all the things.
Lea Ann:Awesome, fantastic. This has been fabulous. Thank you so much for taking the time. Thank you, thank you, it's been awesome.
Lea Ann:Thank you so much for listening to Mind Over Medium podcast today. If you found the episode inspiring, please share it with a friend or post it on social media and tag me on Instagram at Leanne Slotkin, or head to my website, wwwleanneslotkincom. To book a discovery call to find out more about working with me one-on-one. You can also head to my website to get a great tool I've created for you to use when planning your own online launch of your artwork. It's an exercise I've taken many of my coaching clients through and it's been very helpful. It's my way of saying thank you and keep creating.