Capture the Flow with Alycia Buenger, Multi-Passionate

It took three tries to schedule the recording of today’s episode of “Connecting the Dots with The Renaissance People” with multi-passionate Alycia Buenger. We are both moms of young children, educators and entrepreneurs. So, between childcare challenges and work commitments, we repeatedly had to push back our recording date. But we made it happen (otherwise you wouldn’t be seeing this). And giving ourselves the permission slip to reschedule the interview was one of our answers to the question Alycia regularly grapples with in her research and writing, How can we live, work, and be well in modern times (for ourselves and each other)?In this episode we talked about this required flexibility of caregiving and business ownership among MANY other topics listed below (in classic Renaissance People fashion). Take a listen and be sure to sign up for my newsletter for updates on upcoming podcast episodes and what’s happening in the Renaissance People Community.Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink):Sign up for newsletter for updates on my podcast and what’s happening in the Renaissance People Community.Work with me to Find Your Golden Thread and confidently tell your multi-passionate story.Ep. 12: A Different Kind of Wonderful with Paula Croxson, Renaissance WomanFlow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihály CsíkszentmihályiSarah Shotts (they/them) is an artist-mother based in ArkansasThe Neuro Nest (previously called Kindle Curiosity) is Sarah's podcast about neurodivergence, motherhood, chronic illness, and creative workA conversation with Sarah Shotts about creative capacity and inconsistent practiceRange: Why Generalists Thrive in a Specialized World by David EpsteinEp. 9: A Mind for Memory with Brian Skellenger, SurvivalistMagnet Theater in Manhattan, NYC. Performance schedule for Brian’s musical theater improv team, Lil’ Spoon.Unravel Your Journey Podcast: Alycia's year-long project with Kati Overmier to "unravel" big ideas within day-to-day lifeEp. 1: Hello! I’m Sara Kobilka, Renaissance WomanA Bit of Optimism with Simon Sinek, Episode 68: Embracing the Fall with Carla Hall, Apple Podcast | SpotifyThe Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan HaidtThe Tin Can phoneThe Creatrix Spiral (as Alycia describes it) is renewable, expandable, and open to individual and collective interpretation of experience. It’s based upon varied spiritual teachings, including the Chakra System. The Creatrix Spiral is the foundation of her online studio and mentorship offerings.There are so many resources to explain and consider the chakra system; Alycia's favorite from yoga teacher training is Eastern Body, Western Mind by Anodea JudithEp. 10: The Forever Revolution with Jenni Gritters, Multi-PassionateYouTube video on how to create an electromagnetic nailArticle on why not to use the term “Middle East”Radiolab (not Invisibilia as said in the episode) podcast episode on the “discovery” of interstitiumBuy Me a Coffee (actually an oat milk cappuccino that I will purchase at a locally-owned coffee shop while working)Alycia’s website and SubstackFollow Alycia on Social Media:LinkedIn | InstagramA few things Alycia and I discuss:3:30 Alycia’s winding path4:51 The interconnection between physical movement and creativity5:51 Flow in creative people8:13 Flexibility requirement of caregiving9:59 Creating structures for flow11:07 Inconvenient inspiration16:58 Improv as flow state21:34 Being a natural rebel23:20 Inspiration in waves25:59 Answer the dreaded question by providing of roadmap and starting point30:13 Not taking advice in business32:55 Building trust in your gut and handling failure48:31 The Creatrix Spiral and the seven chakra system53:59 “Western medicine” vs “Eastern medicine”56:32 Fairtrade coffee and ecotourismQuotes from the episode:(Sara) Flow can be hard, especially when you are a parent of young children and you don't feel like you've got a lot of capacity just because you're being pulled in a thousand directions and you're just trying to keep these kids alive and fed and everything else that you're dealing with. But that ability to float along the river and let the kind of the, the path of the stream take you where you're gonna go. If you fight it, you're not gonna win. It's like a rip current. If you fight the rip current and try to swim back to shore, that's how people drown. It's when you swim parallel to the shore and get out of that like force that you can finally make your way back.(Alycia) I don't think we can always force flow. I think it's kind of relatively spontaneous, but we can kind of create structures around our work or our daily lives that would encourage flow and the flow state to kind of show up. And allow us to kind of capture it when it's there.(Alycia) I would ask questions. You know, like, where, when does inspiration strike? What are you doing in that period of time? What are you thinking about when that's happening? What are you doing before and after? And how does it feel to like not capture that idea? Does it come back to you? I have a lot of questions. And if we can answer some of those questions, I think you can kind of find your own path there, if that makes sense.(Sara) Yeah, it seems like kind of almost pattern recognition. When is this happening? What's the cadence of it?(Alycia) So I think part of the challenge that I have is that I'm like a natural rebel. So anytime I like see rules or I find rules, or I find that pattern and put it in place, I'm like, okay, now I'm gonna go do something else. 'Cause like I just naturally have to push back against even my own rules. It's a deeply annoying part of who I am. But I will say that as someone who has to do these things in order to make an income, I have...