Creative Tools for Navigating Boundaries | Your Creative Chord Podcast Ep 79  

[00:00:00] VO Artist: Welcome to Your Creative Chord Podcast, where host Jenny Leigh Hodgins, author and educator, shares insights dedicated to empowering your creative flow and inspired living. Through solo reflections and dialogues with creators and wellness experts, Jenny Leigh shares holistic wisdom influenced by her Buddhist practice, alongside poetic insights and practical strategies for living authentically. This podcast helps you overcome challenges and unlock your full creative potentia

[00:00:43] Jenny Leigh Hodgins: Welcome to Your Creative Chord. I'm your host Jenny Leigh. In Episode 78, How To Deal With Resistance To Your Boundaries, I shared some ways to handle the backlash when others resist your healthy boundaries. It is also about the reciprocal and positive impact of spiritual and practical practices for opening your creative flow through the boundary setting experience.

[00:01:08] I also shared some excerpts from my personal creative process. And in today's bonus, episode 79, Creative Tools For Navigating Boundaries. I'll provide you with a more meditative experience by sharing the full versions of the creative examples from episode 78. These include my song called For You and Me from my Butterfly, Believe album, two poems from my poetry and lyrics collection, Kaleidoscope Of The Heart, and a short piano piece I composed appropriately called Uncharted Pathway.

[00:01:41] My hope is that these reflective creative works will help you to better grasp the power of using your creative expression through the boundary setting process. These creative works all came from navigating and maintaining difficult boundaries in my own life. And if you'd like to hear more about how I've used creativity, my spiritual practice, and other proven strategies to process and transform these kinds of experiences, check out episode 78, how to deal with resistance to your boundaries.

[00:02:14] Today's episode demonstrates how I've utilized my own creative process to grapple with the emotional impact of navigating boundaries and resistance. But let me be clear, while creative expression is a powerful outlet, and while tools like journaling, walking movement, mindfulness and nature are all proven research backed strategies for processing emotions.

[00:02:38] The most impactful thing that helps me transform negativity, stay grounded and convert my challenges into creative flow is my SGI chanting practice. the essence of it involves chanting twice a day, and chanting is a form of active meditation that helps me elevate my life state to better navigate emotional complexity with clarity and resolve and energy.

[00:03:04] It guides me to embrace self-reflection, self-responsibility, and self-compassion, while also sending positivity through prayer to those who bring difficulty and complexity into my life. My spiritual practice helps me see these relationship challenges are ultimately for the betterment of myself, and they can become catalysts for beautiful creative expression and value.

[00:03:31] Through chanting, I'm able to tap into and draw out my best, most expansive, creative energy instead of getting stuck in my negativity. And that's why for me, creative expression and chanting go hand in hand. My spiritual practice clears the path and my creativity helps me move through what I feel and turn it into something expressive and life affirming.

[00:03:57] Both my Buddhist practice and my creative practice have become tools for wellness and a barometer for my personal and creative growth. Okay. These practices I've mentioned today and in episode 78 using Buddhism, mindfulness meditation, nature immersion exercise, stillness, and self-reflection. These aren't just my personal strategies.

[00:04:22] I mean, they're well-recognized approaches for both creative momentum and emotional resilience. These are research backed, personal and relevant to my growth, and a large part of how Your Creative Chord empowers your creative flow and inspired living. You can learn more about SGI Buddhism at Buddhability Podcast on your favorite listening platform, and that link is below.

[00:04:50] I hope that today's bonus episode of my musical and poetic examples serves as inspiration for how you can use your own experiences to overcome creative blocks, transform your relationship with boundary setting, and move toward a more empowered and authentic life. I shared an excerpt of my song, For You And Me, in Episode 78.

[00:05:12] It reveals my personal inner revolution and a real time processing of my emotions regarding dysfunctional relationships in my personal life. And here is the full version of my song, for You and Me, from my Butterfly, Believe album. Let's listen.

[00:05:33] Love for you deep in my heart.

[00:05:51] Always wanted nothing more than peacefulness to start somewhere between us, within us. A quiet sort of comfort borne of our connectedness.

[00:06:12] I wonder why then is this pain?

[00:06:19] This constant pouring out of sorow that hits us yet again?

[00:06:33] In my deepest prayers, I wish for you to see. In my purest heart, I hope we can break free. And in the depths of my soul, we are the truest family and I'll never stop my dreams 

[00:06:59] For you and me,

[00:07:06] Oh, love for you deep in my heart, that is where I feel I do my part somehow to relieve you, believe you. A quiet sort of giving in everything I do.

[00:07:33] I wonder why then, is this pain, this terrible suffering from which we surely cannot gain?

[00:07:54] In my deepest prayers. I wish for you to see. And in my purest heart, I hope we can break free. And in the depths of my soul, we are the truest family. And I'll never stop. No, I'll never stop.

[00:08:23] I'll never stop my dreams for you and me

[00:08:48] Does my song remind you of any imbalanced relationship in your life?

[00:09:03] Next I'll share two poems from my poetry and lyrics collection, Kaleidoscope Of The Heart. Here is Peel Another Layer from page 112.

[00:09:14] Peel Another Layer.

[00:09:17] Like artichoke petals, there are layers around my heart.

[00:09:23] Through my prayers to overcome my weakness tapped with you,

[00:09:29] I have discovered how much I've left to do.

[00:09:33] Through my faith, I am fighting to see

[00:09:36] how to peel another layer from the heart of me.

[00:09:41] I'm learning even with the years behind,

[00:09:45] I still have work to do to finally break free

[00:09:49] of the karma, all our drama dancing in my head.

[00:09:53] You and your issues are my spiritual thread

[00:09:57] to face within myself the truth of where I am.

[00:10:02] Digging deep here, pouring out my soul to understand.

[00:10:07] To peel a layer away, I do not intend to dwell,

[00:10:11] but instead to shine a light inside this dark of hell

[00:10:15] that has lodged itself within my life for far too long.

[00:10:20] I pray from now to open up a new sound and song

[00:10:25] Something that sings my love, my truest self aloud.

[00:10:31] The only way to let this new music out

[00:10:34] is for me to get to the root of my own tendencies,

[00:10:38] and you are the last chapter in this romantic history.

[00:10:44] So I sit here in my solitude, in sync with my Divine,

[00:10:49] to peel away a layer from this artichoke of mine.

[00:10:53] What I see is plainly me holding lock and key.

[00:11:00] I pray for strength to do what it takes to open and set free

[00:11:06] this part of me, this protected aspect of my heart.

[00:11:10] I know at least that this is the place to start.

[00:11:21] Take a moment to reflect on what this poem evokes for you.

[00:11:35] Next, I'll share my verse called Prayer Brings Light to Dark from page 21 of Kaleidoscope Of The Heart.

[00:11:46] Out of darkness and pain comes this incredible moment of beauty and light.

[00:11:51] Seeing into myself leads to a view of the vast universe,

[00:11:56] a deep connection from my soul to spiritual dimension.

[00:12:01] And yet, a lightness that floats above and within me.

[00:12:07] I feel joy and appreciation and everything becomes amazingly simple.

[00:12:13] Every suffering offers an answer

[00:12:16] A chance to sync my heart with true purpose

[00:12:21] The greatest joy of living filled with my potential,

[00:12:25] Aligning every daily action with the task

[00:12:29] Of spreading happiness, empowerment, and fulfillment.

[00:12:40] How does prayer impact you?

[00:12:50] Next, let's acknowledge how setting boundaries may be a new skill for us. Let's be gentle with ourselves as we navigate this new territory and give ourselves time to master the skill of setting healthy boundaries.

[00:13:12] And let's close out today's bonus episode by listening to the short piano piece I composed appropriately called Uncharted Pathway.

[00:13:22] 

[00:14:38] Jenny Leigh Hodgins: Can you embrace space with your new boundary?

[00:14:46] Perhaps today's verses and music inspire you to explore your feelings through your creative practice, prayer, journaling, or simply allowing your thoughts and feelings to emerge within you. Take a moment for yourself to notice what this brings up for you.

[00:15:18] May you embrace your process in your unique way.

[00:15:22] Thank you for listening, today. You'll find more episodes on burnout and boundaries linked below. But for a next step, I recommend listening to Episode 77, Boundaries For Protecting Your Creative Energy. And if you're working through pushback, don't miss episode 78, How To Deal with Resistance to Your Boundaries. For deeper burnout recovery insights,

[00:15:44] you can check out episodes 62 through 64 of Your Creative Chord podcast.

[00:15:49] And if you're ready to reconnect with your creative flow, especially through burnout, resistance, or emotional challenges, I invite you to take the next step with me through my Creative Empowerment Coaching Program.

[00:16:01] This is where you'll get support to clear creative blocks, restore your energy, and move forward with a deeper sense of alignment, focus, and inspired living. Apply now at YourCreativeChord.com/workwithme. Let's get you back into your unique creative rhythm with clarity, confidence, and compassion.

[00:16:26] ​ VO Artist: Thank you for listening to Your Creative Chord Podcast. If you found inspiration in today's episode, please leave a review and subscribe to the show.

Your support helps spread the message of creativity and inspired living. Stay connected with Jenny Leigh and a vibrant community of creatives and curious minds. Visit YourCreativeChord.com for more resources. Remember, daily life is where your creative flow begins. Embrace the journey!