Author: marisavictus

Or, do you tend to use force?

In my STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT☕️🍵, we’re doing a deep-dive into our newest Book Club selection! This week is Chapter 2 of BEYOND ANXIETY: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life’s Purpose by Martha Beck.

Why don’t we get scared & return to a state of calm, the way prey can do — in minutes — after they escape a lion in the Savanna?

We’re human. We’re supposed to be smart. Yet, returning to a state of “rest & digest” isn’t what we do. When our version of a lion gives up, walks away, and disappears into the tall grass, the left-hemisphere of our brains can still send us into an Anxiety Spiral, locking us in a state of perpetual fight-flight-freeze-or-fawn, with its endless rumination and list of what-ifs.

It’s not our fault, though.

It’s society.

In Chapter 2: Anxious Creatures in an Anxious Culture, MB lets us off the hook…ALMOST.

Yes, Homo sapiens are intelligent, but our society’s conditioned us all to be stressed out, to have a Scarcity Mindset, and to worry (as if worrying could ever keep us safe).

Worse, our society and culture is heavily biased toward left-hemisphere thinking. So much so, “[We’ve] been trained to believe that thinking is superior to experiencing.”

Beyond that, anxiety’s contagious. Other people’s anxiety has the ability to launch us into an anxiety spiral, too.

Yup, our entire society’s drowning in anxiety. Because our lives are unnatural.

Our lives aren’t shaped by the rhythms and cycles of nature.

Our work culture tells us in implicit and explicit ways that we have to be anxious to be productive and successful.

Whether we want to or not, many of us have a pyramid model of success where we have to scramble and fight to be one of the few at the top.

No wonder we fall prey to the false fears (the False Evidence Appearing Real) that our left-hemispheres concoct.

The only way out is to remember: Anxiety lies! Contrary to what it tells us, we will NOT be any safer if we worry about everything endlessly.

But, how can we back away?

Is it possible to not-engage, when our society romanticizes “The Way of the Warrior”?

And our left-hemisphere loves to “fight” both real and imagined threats in these two ways: “(1) [coming] up with explanations that justify our feeling of fear, and (2) [figuring] out ways we might take control of the situation.”

That warrior mentality’s built into our minds.

And, if we look closely, society also encourages left-brained methods to fix our anxiety. Like therapy that focuses on describing our trauma, dissecting and analyzing it, again and again, instead of calming or soothing our frightened inner self. Which — surprise, surprise — only makes us more anxious.

Ultimately, trying to fight our anxiety does not work, and making us “wrong” doesn’t either.

Reframing’s helpful.

As MB clearly states, “When you feel anxious, the primal creature at the core of your brain is working exactly as nature intended. “

YES, our brain’s doing precisely what it’s supposed to do!

But, how can we make peace with its existence, when its being there can feel downright terrible?

Acceptance is the answer.

It helps to make friends with it. To see our frightened inner self like the anxious animal that it is.

And MB’s got the perfect name for this part of us that needs our love and care: The Creature.

It’s the fearful, often wounded, inner part of us that needs to be held, nurtured, and soothed.

Not backed into a corner. Doing that can make it (over)react with its claws out, growling loudly, not quieting down.

MB invites us to take the far kinder — and more effective — approach:

To become our very own Amygdala-Whisperer.

Like a Horse Whisperer who can understand, embrace, and utilize the subtle and gentle language that horses prefer, we need to use the language our anxious inner Creature prefers, to tame the fear center of our brains, the amygdala.

By using these 6 Amygdala-Whispering Skills:

1️⃣ SIGH — breathing out with a long exhale slows our heartbeat.

2️⃣ SOFTEN THE FOCUS OF YOUR EYES — when we soften our eyes, we let our amygdala know it’s okay to relax.

3️⃣ LET YOUR ANXIETY CREATURE MOVE — sometimes the worst thing we can do for our anxious minds is to try to force stillness in our bodies. Letting it out, physically, helps.

4️⃣ ACCEPT YOUR ANXIETY CREATURE — trying to force ourselves to not be anxious increases our reactivity. Letting ourselves be, no matter what we’re feeling, gives our emotions room to breathe and allows the anxiety to pass.

5️⃣ MURMUR, HUM, SING, OR CHANT — ever felt your throat tighten or your voice go up in pitch? Both are signs of anxiety. Allowing our voice to embody a calmer, lower pitch helps to relax the throat and the mind.

6️⃣ DEPLOY KIND INTERNAL SELF-TALK (KIST) — talking yourself down from the proverbial cliff is easier when you embody your wiser, Higher Self. Give yourself reassurances like, “You’re okay”; “It’s all right”; “This too shall pass”; and feel better fast.

The beauty of these 6 methods is that we get to drop into our bodies in an accepting and relaxing way, which automatically allows our minds to rest — without having to force our way out of an Anxiety Spiral using left-brained methods.

GOT ANXIETY?

Activate the right-hemisphere of your brain, to toggle the left-hemisphere off.

Experiencing peace in a state of right-hemisphere bliss is all we have to do.

Now, take a Mindful Minute to reflect on your life:

️⭐️ Do you want to commit to trying one of the 6 Amygdala-Whispering Methods above? Set aside any preconceived notions you might have before giving them a try, and note what happens.

⭐️ ️For our Journaling, let’s describe an Anxiety Spiral this week. Describe how we’d usually handle it, using a left-brained method (like CBT, perhaps)?

️⭐️ Then become the Amygdala-Whisperer you know you can be. Use an Amygdala-Whispering Method instead of your go-to method. Was it just as effective as your left-brained approach, or maybe more so?

️⭐️ How do the two approaches (L-brained or R-brained) feel in your body? Which is better at reactivating your Parasympathetic Nervous System, so you can get back to enjoying a state of calming “rest & digest”?

👭 Do you want to enlist the help of a Fellow Creative, to help keep you accountable?

Together, we can nudge ourselves away from the left-hemisphere, and whisper our way into the right.

👭 If so, in the Comments or in the CHAT, tell us what you’d like to accomplish this upcoming week so we can all support & cheer you on.

Are you ready to conquer your Anxiety, by being CREATIVE with me?

Then,

Let’s TRUST in the Right-Brained, Amygdala Whisperer inside all of us.

The Creative Amygdala-Whisperer in me honors & respects the Creative Amygdala-Whisperer in each of you,

Marisa

⭐️ Remember, we don’t have to figure everything out, all alone. ⭐️

We can find solutions, together!

Please join us in my

This is a special group for Writers, Artists, & Creatives like us, to have deep conversations about the Books that we choose, so we can implement what we learn, and unearth our truest, most Authentic Selves.

It’s the perfect way to

Share Our Recipes for Happiness:

🔮 Have fun together;

🔮 Share our triumphs;

🔮 Vent from time to time — we’re human after all!

🔮 Take a lighthearted approach to private journaling & Artist’s Dates; and,

🔮 Grow the CREATIVE GENIUS inside all of us! 💐🌺🌷🌸🌹🌻🌼

Share Our Work (allow our True Self to be Seen):

🚀 With Notes Boost Challenges (NBC), we can share our favorite Notes of the week.

🚀 And, when we’d like, we can share our Works In Progress (WIP) and/or Final Posts, Music, & Art…whatever we’re proud of!

🚀 So we can Like, Comment, and/or Restack each others’ work to…

Share Our Joy (experience Connection with a kind & supportive Creative Community):

🙌 This is how we can come together, to grow through our own individual efforts, and feel the support of a kind & supportive Creative Community, too.

🤗 If that sounds good to you, then join us & say hello!

Join Marisa Victus’s subscriber chat

Available in the Substack app and on web

Come join us in the STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT! ☕️🍵 !

Looking for a regular place to help boost each other’s Notes & Posts every week?

I host Notes Boost Challenges (NBC) every Friday in my STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT.

Feel free to share your latest Note or Post of the week, so we can Like/Comment/Restack yours & you can do the same for others, so we can all GROW!

Pull up a seat & come to our comfy & cozy Creative CHAT! Here’s to the Creative CHAT for me & you! 🎉📚🥳📚🎉

Subscribe if you want to see where this Creative Journey can take us!

BONUS — Did you know that all SUBSCRIBERS can read the 1st Book of THE OBSIDIAN CHRONICLES (OBSIDIAN: Birth to Venus) for FREE?

READ THE SYNOPSIS

Subscribe now

Together, we’ll explore all the ways that we can 10x our life — mind, body, & soul.

We’ll learn the scientific, physiological, and psychological reasons why we are the way that we are. And…

We’ll combine that understanding with simple, active practices that will supercharge our self-improvement & give us unstoppable self-belief!

When you SUBSCRIBE TO MY SUBSTACK, you’ll gain access to these 2 resources:

(1) Every week, you’ll get my free Non-Fiction Newsletter on Substack, entitled Marisa VICTUS: Science of Synergy & Self; and,

(2) Every day, you’ll be able to entrain your brain — the quick & easy way — with my daily Mindset & Meditation (M&M) practice.

I’m building my own Mindset & Meditation (M&M) Community, so we can all invest in our truest, most Authentic Self.

🌸 Every day, I write ✍️1 handwritten✍️ M&M (Mindset & Meditation) Note.🌸

🧘🏻‍♀️If you want to grow with me, repeat these daily affirmations like I am.🧘🏻‍♀️

🙌Let’s entrain our brains to adopt these empowering beliefs.🙌

Plus, if you’d like to see me succeed (or flop 😂) as I practice in public,

(3) SUBSCRIBE to my free YouTube Channel!

Do YOU know the difference?

In my STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT☕️🍵, we’re doing a deep-dive into our newest Book Club selection! This week is Chapter 1 of BEYOND ANXIETY: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life’s Purpose by Martha Beck.

In Chapter 1: The Nuts & Bolts of Why We Go Juts and Want to Bolt, MB distinguishes between anxiety & fear.

Fear is a surge “meant to hit hard, get us moving, and then disappear…. real fear tells us what to do while giving us the speed and strength we need to do it.”

Unlike fear, anxiety “is more like being haunted. It pulls our attention inward to worrisome thoughts and fantasies, away from our actual physical situation in the present.” Often offering nothing constructive to point us in the right direction. And, ironically, anxiety can increase even in situations where we are safe.

Is your anxiety switch stuck in the “On” position?

We like to think that us humans are the superior species and, in many ways, we are at the top. But, most of what we think and do is actually driven by our emotions — not necessarily reality.

It helps to know the anatomy of the Beast.

Fear and anxiety originate in the two almond-shaped amygdala, one in each side of the two hemispheres of our brain.

But the two hemispheres affect us in strikingly different ways.

According to MB, the left hemisphere of our brains tends to react to every threat in two ways:

“(1) it comes up with explanations that justify our feeling of fear, and

(2) it figures out ways we might take control of the situation.”

Problem is: we can go overboard.

Unlike other animals, our brains have the capacity to go beyond remembering the information we need to survive. It can also generate verbal stories about what we’ve done or need to do. And our imaginations can go wild, expanding upon our stories, real or imagined.

What’s more, our anxiety can make these thoughts seem perfectly logical and reasonable — even if they’re not. And the more we get stuck in a state of anxiety, the more those thoughts churn, over and over, in a terrible feedback loop that travels from the neocortex to the amygdala, making us anxious once again.

It’s that double arrow (or triple or quadruple arrow, etc.) that really gets us. If we’re not careful, bad thoughts turn into an anxiety monster feeding frenzy. Especially when our brains experience it all, as if it’s really happening. This is what MB aptly calls the “Anxiety Spiral.”

️🙋‍♀️🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏾‍♂️ Raise your hand if you recognize yourself in this description.

Sadly, I do. 🤣

MB tells us a funny and frightful story about her and her friend having survived close encounters two leopards. Followed by a long list of all the ways their anxiety could’ve caused them to worry and catastrophize what else could go wrong. You can quickly see how such anxious thoughts would drive any person mad.

It sounds ridiculous in the context of a one-off encounter with a leopard.

But, the sad thing is: it’s common in the context of our everyday worries — about our work, our home, our health, our relationships with others, our relationship with ourself. The endless list of what-ifs goes on and on.

Should we use force? Or make friends with our foe?

Every human on earth knows what it’s like to try, try, and try again to muscle our way out of an anxiety spiral. After all, forcing works at least some of the time.

But, many times, it doesn’t. As MB points out, our brains are evolutionarily programmed to have a “negativity bias” that overemphasizes the negative threat because doing so will give us the best chance to survive.

What’s worse, the left-hemisphere of our brains has a tendency to ignore any facts or evidence that might threaten or disprove its version of the “truth.”

The right-hemisphere bypasses the Anxiety Monster.

We can take advantage of the right-hemisphere of our brains that’s less about logic and analysis, and more about perception, emotion, and intuition.

The right hemisphere can ground us in the here and now.

Via our senses.

Or it can use our imaginations to transport us to another place or time — one that’s much more relaxing and emotionally-regulating.

Either way, we get to experience some respite from the anxiety spiral that the left-hemisphere wants to trap us in.

Do it well, and we loosen its grip. Making space, so we can let reason in.

The key is to notice fear once it arrives, and take corrective (creative) action, as soon as our thoughts begin to grow into an “Anxiety Spiral.”

Now, take a Mindful Minute to reflect on your life:

⭐️ Do you think you’re left-hemisphere dominant? Or do you stay mostly in your right-hemisphere?

⭐️ For our Journaling, let’s reflect on our past week. Can we identify a time when we let our worries spin out of control, into an Anxiety Spiral?

⭐️ What’s the likely cause? External pressure (like societal/familial/peer pressure, or a work-related performance evaluation)? Or, perhaps it’s something internal (like feeling we don’t have enough time, or feeling unworthy or unlovable)?

⭐️ Come up with one or two Creative methods to end your specific Anxiety Spiral. Imagine yourself stuck ruminating in that anxiety, and rate your anxiety level. Now, give your Creative task a try. Rate your emotions after. Did you notice any improvement?

👭 Do you want to enlist the help of a Fellow Creative, to help keep you accountable?

Together, you can commit to applying your chosen Creative method to quit your next Anxiety Spiral.

A simple note to tell a friend, “I was anxious about X, so I did Y today,” may be just what we need, to remember we can use our Creativity to kick our Anxiety Spirals to the curb.

👭 If so, in the Comments or in the CHAT, tell us what you’d like to accomplish this upcoming week so we can all support & cheer you on.

Are you ready to conquer your Anxiety, by being CREATIVE with me?

Then,

Let’s TRUST in our Right-Brained Capacity to rescue us.

The Right-Brained Creative in me honors & respects the Right-Brained Creative in each of you,

Marisa

⭐️ Remember, we don’t have to figure everything out, all alone. ⭐️

We can find solutions, together!

Please join us in my

This is a special group for Writers, Artists, & Creatives like us, to have deep conversations about the Books that we choose, so we can implement what we learn, and unearth our truest, most Authentic Selves.

It’s the perfect way to

Share Our Recipes for Happiness:

🔮 Have fun together;

🔮 Share our triumphs;

🔮 Vent from time to time — we’re human after all!

🔮 Take a lighthearted approach to private journaling & Artist’s Dates; and,

🔮 Grow the CREATIVE GENIUS inside all of us! 💐🌺🌷🌸🌹🌻🌼

Share Our Work (allow our True Self to be Seen):

🚀 With Notes Boost Challenges (NBC), we can share our favorite Notes of the week.

🚀 And, when we’d like, we can share our Works In Progress (WIP) and/or Final Posts, Music, & Art…whatever we’re proud of!

🚀 So we can Like, Comment, and/or Restack each others’ work to…

Share Our Joy (experience Connection with a kind & supportive Creative Community):

🙌 This is how we can come together, to grow through our own individual efforts, and feel the support of a kind & supportive Creative Community, too.

🤗 If that sounds good to you, then join us & say hello!

Join Marisa Victus’s subscriber chat

Available in the Substack app and on web

Come join us in the STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT! ☕️🍵 !

Looking for a regular place to help boost each other’s Notes & Posts every week?

I host Notes Boost Challenges (NBC) every Friday in my STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT.

Feel free to share your latest Note or Post of the week, so we can Like/Comment/Restack yours & you can do the same for others, so we can all GROW!

Pull up a seat & come to our comfy & cozy Creative CHAT! Here’s to the Creative CHAT for me & you! 🎉📚🥳📚🎉

Subscribe if you want to see where this Creative Journey can take us!

BONUS — Did you know that all SUBSCRIBERS can read the 1st Book of THE OBSIDIAN CHRONICLES (OBSIDIAN: Birth to Venus) for FREE?

READ THE SYNOPSIS

Together, we’ll explore all the ways that we can 10x our life — mind, body, & soul.

We’ll learn the scientific, physiological, and psychological reasons why we are the way that we are. And…

We’ll combine that understanding with simple, active practices that will supercharge our self-improvement & give us unstoppable self-belief!

When you SUBSCRIBE TO MY SUBSTACK, you’ll gain access to these 2 resources:

(1) Every week, you’ll get my free Non-Fiction Newsletter on Substack, entitled Marisa VICTUS: Science of Synergy & Self; and,

(2) Every day, you’ll be able to entrain your brain — the quick & easy way — with my daily Mindset & Meditation (M&M) practice.

I’m building my own Mindset & Meditation (M&M) Community, so we can all invest in our truest, most Authentic Self.

🌸 Every day, I write ✍️1 handwritten✍️ M&M (Mindset & Meditation) Note.🌸

🧘🏻‍♀️If you want to grow with me, repeat these daily affirmations like I am.🧘🏻‍♀️

🙌Let’s entrain our brains to adopt these empowering beliefs.🙌

Plus, if you’d like to see me succeed (or flop 😂) as I practice in public,

(3) SUBSCRIBE to my free YouTube Channel!

Is it even possible?

In my STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT☕️🍵, we’re doing a deep-dive into our newest Book Club selection! This week is our Introduction to BEYOND ANXIETY: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life’s Purpose by Martha Beck.

In the Intro, MB sets the stage by reminding us of the reality we live in: a post-Covid world inundated with so much change and upheaval that it’s given anxiety a new name — “the inner pandemic.”

According to the Journal of Psychiatric Research, the exponential rise of anxiety is due to “exposure to anxiety-provoking world events.” That was true when it was published in 2018 and, in true Martha Beck fashion, one can only laugh “Hahahahaha!” at how much better it was back in 2018, compared to our levels of stress and anxiety today.

Yet, hope is not lost.

We’re in good company.

Even as our fears about the pandemic have eased off, the number of people suffering from anxiety disorders is in the hundreds of millions. Yup, it’s “the most common mental illness in the world.”

MB gets it. Since childhood, MB has had the dubious distinction of suffering from debilitatingly high levels of anxiety. But, she persisted and succeeded despite it, by studying the social sciences to understand the mind and alleviate her constant and severe sense of unease.

This is quite the accomplishment, because when she first began her studies, academia taught her the prevailing theory at the time: that our brains were “fully-formed by the age of five.”

Lucky for us, that turned out to be false. Many years later, new technology allowed neurologists to prove otherwise: that our brains are malleable and can rewire themselves throughout our lives, via neuroplasticity.

In fact, MB’s favorite Tibetan monk study proved that long-time meditators have “unusually dense tissue in the brain regions associated with happiness, compassion, and calm.”

You can almost see MB crying tears of joy, as she screams, “YES!”, she’s so excited to have found one monk in particular who “spent his whole childhood battling crippling anxiety and panic attacks.” MB simply can’t contain her excitement, she’s so happy to have hope that, as she put it, “…I could fix my brain…. I believed the way to peace was already inside me. I just had to find it.”

What I love about this approach is it doesn’t depend on external factors that we can’t control.

The locus of control is INSIDE of us.

What better way to heal ourselves & break out of our anxiety cage?

And I love how she calls this practice “the Art of Calm.” It’s not some rigid protocol, but a creative process that enlivens us, awakens our artistic spirit, and automatically strengthens the calming areas of our brains.

My favorite part?

The Toggle Effect: we can stand up to our anxiety, after all.

Contrary to the belief that it’s hard to escape our anxious minds, there’s scientific “evidence that shows a kind of toggle effect between anxiety and creativity: when one is up and running, the other seems to go silent…. [It’s] all about using creativity to calm… anxiety.”

You mean, we don’t have to beat ourselves with sticks to get our mean Inner Critic and anxious Monkey Minds to calm down?!

We can feast on sweet artsy carrots and enjoy a state of inner peace?

Yes, MB says we can, if we remember the 3 Important Things that changed her life:

1. Our society teaches us to unconsciously activate, spin, and accelerate the “Anxiety Spiral” in our brains.
2. As society makes us more anxious, we make it more anxious, in a never-ending vortex of suffering.
3. Anxiety can’t be ended; it must be replaced.

She’ll show us how to practice the Art of Calm in the next 3 sections of the book: The Creature, the Creative, and the Creation. Personally, I can’t wait!

Now, take a Mindful Minute to reflect on your life:

⭐️ Does this resonate with you?

⭐️ For our Journaling, let’s begin by rating our anxiety on a scale of 1 to 10 (being highest), and see how our rating changes as we go through the book.

⭐️ Have you heard of the toggle switch before? Or noticed it in your own experience?

⭐️ Do you feel calmer when doing something creative?

👭 Do you want to enlist the help of a Fellow Creative, to help keep you accountable so you can commit to applying the lessons in this book, or to accomplish another Creative task?

👭 If so, in the Comments or in the CHAT, tell us what you’d like to accomplish this upcoming week so we can all support & cheer you on.

Are you ready to conquer your Anxiety, by being CREATIVE with me?

Then,

Let’s TRUST in our CREATIVITY!

The Peaceful Creative in me honors & respects the Peaceful Creative in each of you,

Marisa

⭐️ Remember, we don’t have to figure everything out, all alone. ⭐️

We can find solutions, together!

Please join us in my

This is a special group for Writers, Artists, & Creatives like us, to have deep conversations about the Books that we choose, so we can implement what we learn, and unearth our truest, most Authentic Selves.

It’s the perfect way to

Share Our Recipes for Happiness:

🔮 Have fun together;

🔮 Share our triumphs;

🔮 Vent from time to time — we’re human after all!

🔮 Take a lighthearted approach to private journaling & Artist’s Dates; and,

🔮 Grow the CREATIVE GENIUS inside all of us! 💐🌺🌷🌸🌹🌻🌼

Share Our Work (allow our True Self to be Seen):

🚀 With Notes Boost Challenges (NBC), we can share our favorite Notes of the week.

🚀 And, when we’d like, we can share our Works In Progress (WIP) and/or Final Posts, Music, & Art…whatever we’re proud of!

🚀 So we can Like, Comment, and/or Restack each others’ work to…

Share Our Joy (experience Connection with a kind & supportive Creative Community):

🙌 This is how we can come together, to grow through our own individual efforts, and feel the support of a kind & supportive Creative Community, too.

🤗 If that sounds good to you, then join us & say hello!

Join Marisa Victus’s subscriber chat

Available in the Substack app and on web

Come join us in the STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT! ☕️🍵 !

Looking for a regular place to help boost each other’s Notes & Posts every week?

I host Notes Boost Challenges (NBC) every Friday in my STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT.

Feel free to share your latest Note or Post of the week, so we can Like/Comment/Restack yours & you can do the same for others, so we can all GROW!

Pull up a seat & come to our comfy & cozy Creative CHAT! Here’s to the Creative CHAT for me & you! 🎉📚🥳📚🎉

Subscribe if you want to see where this Creative Journey can take us!

BONUS — Did you know that all SUBSCRIBERS can read the 1st Book of THE OBSIDIAN CHRONICLES (OBSIDIAN: Birth to Venus) for FREE?

READ THE SYNOPSIS

Subscribe now

Together, we’ll explore all the ways that we can 10x our life — mind, body, & soul.

We’ll learn the scientific, physiological, and psychological reasons why we are the way that we are. And…

We’ll combine that understanding with simple, active practices that will supercharge our self-improvement & give us unstoppable self-belief!

When you SUBSCRIBE TO MY SUBSTACK, you’ll gain access to these 2 resources:

(1) Every week, you’ll get my free Non-Fiction Newsletter on Substack, entitled Marisa VICTUS: Science of Synergy & Self; and,

(2) Every day, you’ll be able to entrain your brain — the quick & easy way — with my daily Mindset & Meditation (M&M) practice.

I’m building my own Mindset & Meditation (M&M) Community, so we can all invest in our truest, most Authentic Self.

🌸 Every day, I write ✍️1 handwritten✍️ M&M (Mindset & Meditation) Note.🌸

🧘🏻‍♀️If you want to grow with me, repeat these daily affirmations like I am.🧘🏻‍♀️

🙌Let’s entrain our brains to adopt these empowering beliefs.🙌

Plus, if you’d like to see me succeed (or flop 😂) as I practice in public,

(3) SUBSCRIBE to my free YouTube Channel!

Let’s walk the Creative Path together.

Hello, my lovely friends!

In the lead up to Thanksgiving, I would like to take a moment to reflect and be thankful for my Medium & Substack community!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Medium & Substack are the creative home that I have been searching for for most of my life.

As somebody who knows ZERO Creatives in real life, Medium & Substack have been my go-to source for meeting other Creatives.

I’ve made so many friends here & I can always rely on Medium & Substack to inspire me, broaden my mind, expand my perspective, and grow my creative practices.

As 2025 comes to a close and Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s are fast approaching…

I find myself asking, “What’s the best way that I can use my Creative Voice to serve others?”

Here’s my answer:

We are living in a world filled with so much divisiveness. Many of us are depressed, stressed, and anxious. We are constantly struggling to survive, not thrive.

Often our Monkey Minds will not stop the mental chatter that keeps us down, and our Inner Critics can be downright mean.

That’s why I’ve devoted my VICTUS Newsletter: Synergy of Science & Self, and my STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT☕️🍵, to help us come together so we can get rid of our Limiting Beliefs in a supportive and uplifting setting. To break free of the mental, emotional, and therefore physical cage many of us are trapped inside.

Because I know how horrible it can feel to NOT be your Authentic Self.

I was not my Authentic Self for far too many years because I was scared to embrace Creative Work.

Many of my Posts go into detail, describing how societal pressure tried to stamp it out of me.

But, my body kept the score. I suffered from debilitating migraines, depression, and anxiety.

Until I’d finally had enough and declared, “NO MORE!”

I knew my life would change when I decided once and for all to go on this Attorney-to-Creative Journey.

Yet, I could never have imagined how immensely happy and fulfilled it has made me.

I am now more at peace. Not perfect. But, significantly better. Healthier. Happier. At ease in my own mind and body.

I’ve finally come home.

I now have a creative place where I can share my creative writing, nonfiction writing, artwork, and music.

A place where I can be seen, validated, and celebrated for being exactly who I am: a Creative!

Most importantly, I get to meet & see myself reflected in other Creatives like you.

It’s so very healing.

And exciting to have found fellow Creatives who are interested in studying books in so many different fields to promote our collective creativity. So we can geek out together and cheer each other on our respective journeys.

Climbing the Creative Mountain of our dreams can be daunting.

The landscape can be treacherous at times, and our mental and emotional fortitude can certainly waver.

But, we can always trust in and be grateful for each other, for daring to dream and for daring to do it together.

I am grateful to have found such a warm and welcoming community of Writers, Readers, Artists, Musicians, and Healers to walk this creative path alongside me.

So, THANK YOU for reading, engaging, & Subscribing!

I look forward to learning & growing with you, and wish you & your family a very warm and relaxing Thanksgiving.

Please join us in my STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT☕️🍵,

on Monday December 1st, when we start our deep-dive into our next Book Club pick —

BEYOND ANXIETY: Curiosity, Creativity, & Finding Your Life’s Purpose by Martha Beck.

The Thankful Creative in me honors & respects the Creative Community I have found in you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Marisa

⭐️ Remember, we don’t have to figure everything out, all alone. ⭐️

We can find solutions, together!

Please join us in my

This is a special group for Writers, Artists, & Creatives like us, to have deep conversations about the Books that we choose, so we can implement what we learn, and unearth our truest, most Authentic Selves.

It’s the perfect way to

Share Our Recipes for Happiness:

🔮 Have fun together;

🔮 Share our triumphs;

🔮 Vent from time to time — we’re human after all!

🔮 Take a lighthearted approach to private journaling & Artist’s Dates; and,

🔮 Grow the CREATIVE GENIUS inside all of us! 💐🌺🌷🌸🌹🌻🌼

Share Our Work (allow our True Self to be Seen):

🚀 With Notes Boost Challenges (NBC), we can share our favorite Notes of the week.

🚀 And, when we’d like, we can share our Works In Progress (WIP) and/or Final Posts, Music, & Art…whatever we’re proud of!

🚀 So we can Like, Comment, and/or Restack each others’ work to…

Share Our Joy (experience Connection with a kind & supportive Creative Community):

🙌 This is how we can come together, to grow through our own individual efforts, and feel the support of a kind & supportive Creative Community, too.

🤗 If that sounds good to you, then join us & say hello!

Join Marisa Victus’s subscriber chat

Available in the Substack app and on web

Come join us in the STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT! ☕️🍵 !

Looking for a regular place to help boost each other’s Notes & Posts every week?

I host Notes Boost Challenges (NBC) every Friday in my STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT.

Feel free to share your latest Note or Post of the week, so we can Like/Comment/Restack yours & you can do the same for others, so we can all GROW!

Pull up a seat & come to our comfy & cozy Creative CHAT! Here’s to the Creative CHAT for me & you! 🎉📚🥳📚🎉

Subscribe if you want to see where this Creative Journey can take us!

BONUS — Did you know that all SUBSCRIBERS can read the 1st Book of THE OBSIDIAN CHRONICLES (OBSIDIAN: Birth to Venus) for FREE?

READ THE SYNOPSIS

Together, we’ll explore all the ways that we can 10x our life — mind, body, & soul.

We’ll learn the scientific, physiological, and psychological reasons why we are the way that we are. And…

We’ll combine that understanding with simple, active practices that will supercharge our self-improvement & give us unstoppable self-belief!

When you SUBSCRIBE, you’ll gain access to these 2 resources:

(1) Every week, you’ll get my free Non-Fiction Newsletter on Medium & Substack, entitled Marisa VICTUS: Science of Synergy & Self; and,

(2) Every day, you’ll be able to entrain your brain — the quick & easy way — with my daily Mindset & Meditation (M&M) practice.

I’m building my own Mindset & Meditation (M&M) Community, so we can all invest in our truest, most Authentic Self.

🌸 Every day, I write ✍️1 handwritten✍️ M&M (Mindset & Meditation) Note.🌸

🧘🏻‍♀️If you want to grow with me, repeat these daily affirmations like I am.🧘🏻‍♀️

🙌Let’s entrain our brains to adopt these empowering beliefs.🙌

Plus, if you’d like to see me succeed (or flop 😂) as I practice in public,

(3) SUBSCRIBE to my free YouTube Channel!

What to LOSE + What you’ll GAIN

In my STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT☕️🍵, we’re doing a deep-dive into The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (“JC”). This week is WEEK #12 of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron: Recovering a Sense of Faith.

In Chapter 12 (the last Chapter of The Artist’s Way), JC gives us her wisest advice as she prepares to part ways with us: she reminds us to guard our Inner Artist by fortifying our self-belief.

We must not fall prey to the doubters and so-called “well wishers” who claim to want the best for us, but ultimately prevent us from seeing what’s possible, because of their own fears, limitations, and lack of imagination or vision.

This can be tricky. Other people’s “advice” can be inviting and, due to our own fears, appear like the truth.

Especially if we have a tendency to believe that art must be “productive,” like an assembly line that starts at Point A and ends at Point B.

Art is more likely to be created on a circuitous path, with many stops and starts. And dull, seemingly lost meanderings.

JC reminds us, yet again, that this is NORMAL.

We must have FAITH in ourselves to persist until the artistic process bears fruit.

But how?

It all comes down to FAITH.

Faith in ourselves.

How can we foster faith in our Self?

(1) We can LET GO:

❌ Ignore the naysayers who whisper mean nothings in our ears.

❌ Abandon the myth, the lie that society tells, that we’re supposed “to be dutiful and then die.”

❌ Beware our own self-sabotage.

❌ Relinquish control.

❌ Stop putting up roadblocks, simply because we’re too afraid to let go of our need for certainty.

❌ Realize that “I don’t know” can cause confusion, but not-knowing is not a sign that we should give up.

(2) Instead, we can DO this:

✅ Embrace a state of Receptivity.

✅ Welcome a sense of Mystery.

✅ Trust in the creative process.

✅ Celebrate the bright flash of inspiration when it comes to us.

✅ Have the courage to admit what our dreams are.

✅ Have faith to trust in what we want.

✅ Trust our own inner guide.

✅ Remember that we aren’t meant to be dutiful, we’re meant to dream, to “be bountiful and live,” and when we pursue our dreams wholeheartedly, the “Universe will always support [our] affirmative action.”

✅ Remember to treat our Inner Artist like the Inner Child s/he is. Be gentle!

✅ Remind ourselves that our artistic flow “will be characterized by spurts of abundance and long spells of doubt, when our supply dwindles to a mere trickle.”

✅ Accept that ideas are “brainchildren” that, “like all babies, should not be dragged from the creative womb prematurely.”

✅ Don’t elevate our creativity to Capital A, “Art.” By placing art on too high a pedestal, we serve the ego, but quash our imagination with too much seriousness.

✅ We can foster more creativity with play, festivity, and humor.

✅ Devote ourselves to Creative Recovery. “We must get serious about taking ourselves lightly. We must work at learning to play.”

✅ So much so, we reach “escape velocity,” that critical point when we can overcome our greatest fears and our Creative Self can finally blast off like a rocket.

Now, take a Mindful Minute to reflect on your life:

⭐️ Does this resonate with you?

⭐️ Have you fallen prey to the pitfalls listed under the “Let Go” list?

⭐️ If so, how can you transition to the “Do” list, instead?

⭐️ If you look back on your 12 weeks of Journaling, how do your Morning Pages reflect your growth?

⭐️ What lingering concerns do you have? Can you find ways to be gentle and nurture your Inner Artist, to grow alongside you?

⭐️ Do you plan to continue your Morning Pages and Artist’s Dates?

👭 Do you want to enlist the help of a Fellow Creative, to help keep you accountable so you can commit to accomplishing a specific Creative task?

👭 If so, in the Comments or in the CHAT, tell us what you’d like to accomplish this upcoming week so we can all support & cheer you on.

Are you ready to BREAK FREE, by being CREATIVE with me?

Then,

TRUST IN WHO YOU ARE!

The Faith & Self-Belief in me honors & respects the Faith & Self-Belief in each of you,

Marisa

⭐️ Remember, we don’t have to figure everything out, all alone. ⭐️

We can find solutions, together!

Please join us in my

This is a special group for Writers, Artists, & Creatives like us, to have deep conversations about the Books that we choose, so we can implement what we learn, and unearth our truest, most Authentic Selves.

It’s the perfect way to

Share Our Recipes for Happiness:

🔮 Have fun together;

🔮 Share our triumphs;

🔮 Vent from time to time — we’re human after all!

🔮 Take a lighthearted approach to private journaling & Artist’s Dates; and,

🔮 Grow the CREATIVE GENIUS inside all of us! 💐🌺🌷🌸🌹🌻🌼

Share Our Work (allow our True Self to be Seen):

🚀 With Notes Boost Challenges (NBC), we can share our favorite Notes of the week.

🚀 And, when we’d like, we can share our Works In Progress (WIP) and/or Final Posts, Music, & Art…whatever we’re proud of!

🚀 So we can Like, Comment, and/or Restack each others’ work to…

Share Our Joy (experience Connection with a kind & supportive Creative Community):

🙌 This is how we can come together, to grow through our own individual efforts, and feel the support of a kind & supportive Creative Community, too.

🤗 If that sounds good to you, then join us & say hello!

Join Marisa Victus’s subscriber chat

Come join us in the STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT! ☕️🍵 !

Looking for a regular place to help boost each other’s Notes & Posts every week?

I host Notes Boost Challenges (NBC) every Friday in my STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT.

Feel free to share your latest Note or Post of the week, so we can Like/Comment/Restack yours & you can do the same for others, so we can all GROW!

Pull up a seat & come to our comfy & cozy Creative CHAT! Here’s to the Creative CHAT for me & you! 🎉📚🥳📚🎉

Subscribe if you want to see where this Creative Journey can take us!

BONUS — Did you know that all SUBSCRIBERS can read the 1st Book of THE OBSIDIAN CHRONICLES (OBSIDIAN: Birth to Venus) for FREE?

READ THE SYNOPSIS

Together, we’ll explore all the ways that we can 10x our life — mind, body, & soul.

We’ll learn the scientific, physiological, and psychological reasons why we are the way that we are. And…

We’ll combine that understanding with simple, active practices that will supercharge our self-improvement & give us unstoppable self-belief!

When you SUBSCRIBE TO MY SUBSTACK, you’ll gain access to these 2 resources:

(1) Every week, you’ll get my free Non-Fiction Newsletter on Substack, entitled Marisa VICTUS: Science of Synergy & Self; and,

(2) Every day, you’ll be able to entrain your brain — the quick & easy way — with my daily Mindset & Meditation (M&M) practice.

I’m building my own Mindset & Meditation (M&M) Community, so we can all invest in our truest, most Authentic Self.

🌸 Every day, I write ✍️1 handwritten✍️ M&M (Mindset & Meditation) Note.

🧘🏻‍♀️If you want to grow with me, repeat these daily affirmations like I am.🧘🏻‍♀️

🙌Let’s entrain our brains to adopt these empowering beliefs.🙌

Plus, if you’d like to see me succeed (or flop 😂) as I practice in public,

(3) SUBSCRIBE to my free YouTube Channel!

When we’re blocked, what can we do?

☠️ The 6 Types of Creative Block & 🤔 The 1 Counterintuitive Solution to Breaking Through.

As you know, in my STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT☕️🍵, we’re doing a deep-dive into The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (“JC”). This week is Week #10: Recovering a Sense of Self-Protection.

In Chapter 10, JC reminds us to beware of the 6 ways we might block our creative flow because we fear our own creative potential:

💥 (1) Food

💥 (2) Alcohol

💥 (3) Drugs

💥 (4) Relationships

💥 (5) Sex

💥 (6) Work

All these things can give us a sense of busyness and an excuse to distract our attention away from our desire to create.

The first step is to become aware.

She says, “Knowing yourself as an artist means acknowledging which of these you abuse when you want to block yourself. If creativity is like a burst in the universe’s breath through the straw that is each of us, we pinch that straw whenever we pick up one of our blocks. We shut down our flow. And we do it on purpose.

We begin to sense our real potential and the wide range of possibilities open to us. That scares us. So we all reach for blocks to slow our growth. If we are honest with ourselves, we all know which blocks are the toxic ones for us. Clue: this is the block we defend as our right.”

But, there’s hope:

This pattern of blocking our creative flow is NORMAL.

And it’s not because we are “bad,” but because we lack faith in our own creative abilities.

It may even be because we fear happiness. Not because we don’t want to be happy, but simply because happiness feels unfamiliar to us.

Same for fun. For Workaholics, play and fun can make us nervous.

Or even simpler: we fear the unknown. The unknown can lead to doubt & uncertainty.

So we use blocks to make Creative U-Turns that keep us in our familiar blocked state, even if it doesn’t serve our Creative, Highest Self in the long run.

BEWARE: These blocks only work in the short-term.

Eventually, she warns, “blocks will no longer work effectively.”

Uh-oh.

Eventually we will feel a growing sense of anxiety.

But, guess what?

That’s a good thing.

Anxiety is the Counterintuitive Solution to Breaking Through.

When we reframe anxiety…

When we lean into anxiety…

We can use anxiety to fuel our creativity.

We just need to FEEL the anxiety and move ahead anyway.

Easier said than done, right?

It helps to have a curious attitude.

To ask, “What might happen?”

To experiment, play, and be proud of our block-busting effort, no matter the outcome.

I tried to lean into my own anxiety this week.

Not because I wanted to.

But because I had to.

My migraines have increased lately. So much so, I even got an MRI. I don’t have brain cancer (whew!), but sadly I do suffer from “chronic migraines.”

So, I took a break from writing Substack Notes this week.

It was hard. The lack of conversation made me feel worse. And feeling “I’m not doing enough” wasn’t pleasant, either.

It got easier when I stopped trying to get rid of the ick.

Instead, I leaned into my anxiety, by writing this, to honor my creativity, even if it was less than what I’d hoped it could be:

If it’s not working, DON’T QUIT.

Rest.

Play.

Find inspiration.

Broaden your perspective.

Meditate.

Practice going inward.

Give it time to percolate.

Remember who you are.

Trust in who you are becoming.

Keep going…slowly, if you must.

until you find a SOFT WAY back…

Into your True Self.

Embrace yourself.

Be gentle.

Welcome your Homecoming.

You are coming home.

Now, take a Mindful Minute to reflect on your life:

⭐️ Does this resonate with you?

⭐️ Can you immediately identify the methods that you tend to use to block your own creative flow?

⭐️ When journaling, are you able to identify any new blocking methods you hadn’t realized you were using?

⭐️ Why do you think you have a tendency to block your creative flow? What do you think you are truly afraid of?

⭐️ In your Journaling, did you track how you spend your time? If so, did you realize you’re a Workaholic who’s overly-devoted to your non-creative work?

⭐️ How do you plan to prioritize your Creative Work, moving forward?

⭐️ Do you want to enlist the help of a Fellow Creative, to help keep you accountable so you can commit to accomplishing a specific Creative task?

👭 If so, in the Comments or in the CHAT, tell us what you’d like to accomplish this upcoming week so we can all support & cheer you on.

The Block-Busting-Creative in me honors & respects the Block-Busting-Creative in each of you,

Marisa

⭐️ Remember, we don’t have to figure everything out, all alone. ⭐️

We can find solutions, together!

Please join us in my

This is a special group for Writers, Artists, & Creatives like us, to have deep conversations about the Books that we choose, so we can implement what we learn, and unearth our truest, most Authentic Selves.

It’s the perfect way to

Share Our Recipes for Happiness:

• Have fun together;
• Share our triumphs;
• Vent from time to time — we’re human after all!
• Take a lighthearted approach to private journaling & Artist’s Dates; and,
• Grow the CREATIVE GENIUS inside all of us! 💐🌺🌷🌸🌹🌻🌼

Share Our Work (allow our True Self to be Seen):

With Notes Boost Challenges (NBC), we can share our favorite Notes of the week.

And, when we’d like, we can share our Works In Progress (WIP) and/or Final Posts, Music, & Art…whatever we’re proud of!

So we can Like, Comment, and/or Restack each others’ work to…

Share Our Joy (experience Connection with a kind & supportive Creative Community):

This is how we can come together, to grow through our own individual efforts, and feel the support of a kind & supportive Creative Community, too.

If that sounds good to you, then join us & say hello!

Join Marisa Victus’s subscriber chat

Available in the Substack app and on web

Join chat

Come join us in the STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT! ☕️🍵 !

Looking for a regular place to help boost each other’s Notes & Posts every week?

I host Notes Boost Challenges (NBC) every Friday in my STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT.

Feel free to share your latest Note or Post of the week, so we can Like/Comment/Restack yours & you can do the same for others, so we can all GROW!

Pull up a seat & come to our comfy & cozy Creative CHAT! Here’s to the Creative CHAT for me & you! 🎉📚🥳📚🎉

Subscribe if you want to see where this Creative Journey can take us!

Share

Leave a comment

BONUS — Did you know that all SUBSCRIBERS can read the 1st Book of THE OBSIDIAN CHRONICLES (OBSIDIAN: Birth to Venus) for FREE?

READ THE SYNOPSIS

Subscribe now

Together, we’ll explore all the ways that we can 10x our life — mind, body, & soul.

We’ll learn the scientific, physiological, and psychological reasons why we are the way that we are. And…

We’ll combine that understanding with simple, active practices that will supercharge our self-improvement & give us unstoppable self-belief!

When you SUBSCRIBE TO MY SUBSTACK, you’ll gain access to these 2 resources:

(1) Every week, you’ll get my free Non-Fiction Newsletter on Substack, entitled Marisa VICTUS: Science of Synergy & Self; and,

(2) Every day, you’ll be able to entrain your brain — the quick & easy way — with my daily Mindset & Meditation (M&M) practice.

I’m building my own Mindset & Meditation (M&M) Community, so we can all invest in our truest, most Authentic Self.

🌸 Every day, I write ✍️1 handwritten✍️ M&M (Mindset & Meditation) Note.🌸

🧘🏻‍♀️If you want to grow with me, repeat these daily affirmations like I am.🧘🏻‍♀️

🙌Let’s entrain our brains to adopt these empowering beliefs.🙌

Plus, if you’d like to see me succeed (or flop 😂) as I practice in public,

(3) SUBSCRIBE to my free YouTube Channel!

Are you creatively blocked? Forcing perfectionism isn’t the answer. PLAY is!

Feel the Fear…& PLAY anyway!

In my STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT☕️🍵, we’re doing a deep-dive into The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (“JC”). This week is Week #9: Recovering a Sense of Compassion.

In Chapter 9, JC asks us to stop mislabeling ourselves. Instead of calling ourselves lazy, we need to be compassionate with ourselves and recognize that we aren’t lazy. We’re “creatively blocked.”

All because of fear.

This can be rooted in our upbringing, she says. Especially when our decision to pursue creative work requires us to go against our parents’ wishes. As she puts it, we put immense pressure on ourselves “right off the bat [to] be great artists in order to justify this rebellion,” which makes it even harder to succeed. Because the “need to be a great artist makes it hard to be an artist” at all.

To overcome this, we need to coax our child-like Inner Artist out. Discipline works, but not for long, she says. Instead, we should entice our artist to come out by setting small goals and…

Encouraging your Inner Child to PLAY.

Play is precisely what will help us to build sustainable momentum and produce great work.

As usual, JC also does a fantastic job of normalizing what can go wrong, by emphasizing that most artists who are creatively blocked will suffer from Creative U-Turns, when creatives sabotage themselves “on the eve of or in the wake of a first creative victory.” Again, laziness is not the cause. Fear is what causes us to retreat. Because the prospect of success can induce fear, too.

But being overly strict or heavy-handed with ourselves is not the answer. Sympathy is. We must realize it’s normal to be like a “skittish horse,” coming “up to a creative jump,” then needing to “circle the field a few times before trying the fence again.”

What a revelation to see that failures are normal!

Successful artists are successful simply because they’ve learned the trick: how to survive failure.

It’s quite comforting to remember that “even our most illustrious artists have taken creative U-turns in their time.”

Now, take a Mindful Minute to reflect on your own life:

⭐️ Do you recognize any Creative U-Turns in your own creative journey?

⭐️ Do you know of any other Creatives who have had U-Turns and recovered successfully? If not in real life, what about Creatives you admire on Substack or elsewhere?

⭐️ How can we use those Creatives as examples, to help us lessen our fear so we can jump the fence again?

⭐️ Examine whatever you’re currently delaying. Might that be fear, disguised as procrastination?

⭐️ How can you release the fear or anger that’s keeping your inner Artistic Child blocked?

⭐️ ARE YOU READY TO PLAY?!

🎃 Halloween’s the perfect opportunity to do so.

Especially because you can do it with the support of your friends & family.

Why not? No matter what age you are, it’s important to strike an air of conviviality with your friends and family — and, perhaps, most of all, children.

Including the Inner Child in each of us.

One of my absolute favorite fall activities is Trick-or-Treating to celebrate Halloween with my kids. My kiddos wear their favorite costumes that change year-after-year.

And, guess what? I get into it, too!

First, I get dressed up.

Using black eyeliner, I bring out the artist in me. I paint on a lil cat nose and whiskers, and I don a pair of fluffy cat ears.

We walk the entire neighborhood, and we’re blessed to have a neighborhood where everyone gets into the Halloween spirit. Even if our neighbors don’t have kids, they set up firepits, enjoy drinks, and hand out candy. They decorate their homes — inside and out — with all sorts of spooky and not-so-spooky sights. Families from all over drive to our neighborhood to enjoy the night out.

When we get home from exploring and trick-or-treating, with my kids’ bags full of candies, my kids are just as excited to hand candies out to the other children who visit our home.

The entire process reminds me of what it was like, to be a kid, so excited to hand out all of the candies I’d prepared for my friends.

I don’t see myself stopping, not even when my kids are older. Like my neighbors, I’ll be getting into the Halloween spirit forever! It’ll keep me young, because there’ll never come a day when I consider myself “too old.”

Second, I participate in the pumpkin carving.

My kids each get their own pumpkins to carve. I help them to carve their chosen designs, and then I turn my attention to a pumpkin devoted just for me.

Yes, you read that right! I buy my very own pumpkin, and I dive into a detailed pumpkin carving.

Over the years, I’ve done so many. They’ve gotten more intricate over time. Morphing from the black cat with its arched back, to Elsa & Olaf one year, to Harry Potter and a Dragon next.

Like this:

I’ve gotten so into it and become attached to some of the designs that I’ve even started buying Foam Pumpkins so my carvings don’t have to rot away come November.

Like that:

Now, some people might laugh at me and think, “She’s a grown adult! She must be so childish” to be into Halloween like this.

But, these simple, traditional activities have brought me so much joy!

And quite a challenge, as well!

Because pumpkin carving’s NOT so easy.

You have to create a design that’s essentially backward, because the areas that you sketch in black need to be the pumpkin you LEAVE ALONE. And the paper that you’ve left white needs to be the pumpkin you CARVE AWAY. You also have to be careful that you leave the pumpkin that’s left ATTACHED to the rest of the pumpkin! (Believe me, if you make a mistake, it can be quite a challenge to correct an overzealous knife!)

It’s a little exercise in mental gymnastics that I’ve gotten better at year after year. And, yet, so much time passes between Halloweens that it does take me a few minutes to grow accustomed to it each time I start the carving process.

I’ve also created some tricks to be able to tell what the final carving will look like when it’s lit up. And I find it quite funny when you compare and contrast the ugly look of a fully-carved pumpkin under the glare of kitchen lights, versus how it looks at night, when it’s lit from the inside, by candlelight. Sometimes, your brain can hardly believe it transforms from something so hideous and unrecognizable into something that resembles what you’ve chosen it to be once it’s lit up. Yet again, it’s the mental exercise that’s so interesting and fun to me.

Most of all, it’s the emotional feeling it gives to me that makes it all worthwhile.

Whether it’s trick-or-treating, carving a pumpkin, or decorating the house for Halloween or fall, I absolutely love the sense of freedom it gives me to PLAY!

Play must be an extremely important part of everyone’s life — whether we’re children or adults.

It allows our brains to maintain flexibility. It reminds us to stop pursuing Perfectionism. It opens us to trying and being willing to fail at new things. It prevents us from taking ourselves or life too seriously. It feels absolutely amazing in our bodies. And, especially for me, it heals my Inner Child, who was raised to pursue the “A” so much that she believed we have to be serious all of the time to be successful.

No! How wrong I was!

It’s when we play that our brains love to learn.

It’s when we play that our spirit’s able to soar.

It’s when we play that we have the freedom to be who we truly wish to be.

So, as Halloween rears its spooky head today, please do yourself a favor…

Ghost your tendency to button down!

Dress up. Get silly. Eat some yummy candy. Now, go out and have yourself a blast!

The Sally (& Jack) Skellington in me honors & respects the Sally or Jack Skellington in each of you,

Marisa

⭐️ Remember, we don’t have to figure everything out, all alone. ⭐️

We can find solutions, together!

Please join us in my

This is a special group for Writers, Artists, & Creatives like us, to have deep conversations about the Books that we choose, so we can implement what we learn, and unearth our truest, most Authentic Selves.

It’s the perfect way to

Share Our Recipes for Happiness:

• Have fun together;
• Share our triumphs;
• Vent from time to time — we’re human after all!
• Take a lighthearted approach to private journaling & Artist’s Dates; and,
• Grow the CREATIVE GENIUS inside all of us! 💐🌺🌷🌸🌹🌻🌼

Share Our Work (allow our True Self to be Seen):

With Notes Boost Challenges (NBC), we can share our favorite Notes of the week.

And, when we’d like, we can share our Works In Progress (WIP) and/or Final Posts, Music, & Art…whatever we’re proud of!

So we can Like, Comment, and/or Restack each others’ work to…

Share Our Joy (experience Connection with a kind & supportive Creative Community):

This is how we can come together, to grow through our own individual efforts, and feel the support of a kind & supportive Creative Community, too.

If that sounds good to you, then join us & say hello!

Join Marisa Victus’s subscriber chat

Available in the Substack app and on web

Join chat

I host Notes Boost Challenges (NBC) every Friday in my STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT.

Feel free to share your latest Note or Post of the week, so we can Like/Comment/Restack yours & you can do the same for others, so we can all GROW!

Pull up a seat & come to our comfy & cozy Creative CHAT! Here’s to the Creative CHAT for me & you! 🎉📚🥳📚🎉

Subscribe if you want to see where this Creative Journey can take us!

BONUS — Did you know that all SUBSCRIBERS can read the 1st Book of THE OBSIDIAN CHRONICLES (OBSIDIAN: Birth to Venus) for FREE?

READ THE SYNOPSIS

Together, we’ll explore all the ways that we can 10x our life — mind, body, & soul.

We’ll learn the scientific, physiological, and psychological reasons why we are the way that we are. And…

We’ll combine that understanding with simple, active practices that will supercharge our self-improvement & give us unstoppable self-belief!

When you SUBSCRIBE TO MY SUBSTACK, you’ll gain access to these 2 resources:

(1) Every week, you’ll get my free Non-Fiction Newsletter on Substack, entitled Marisa VICTUS: Science of Synergy & Self; and,

(2) Every day, you’ll be able to entrain your brain — the quick & easy way — with my daily Mindset & Meditation (M&M) practice.

I’m building my own Mindset & Meditation (M&M) Community, so we can all invest in our truest, most Authentic Self.

🌸 Every day, I write ✍️1 handwritten✍️ M&M (Mindset & Meditation) Note.🌸

🧘🏻‍♀️If you want to grow with me, repeat these daily affirmations like I am.🧘🏻‍♀️

🙌Let’s entrain our brains to adopt these empowering beliefs.🙌

Plus, if you’d like to see me succeed (or flop 😂) as I practice in public,

(3) SUBSCRIBE to my free YouTube Channel!

Fear’s inevitable. Now, what can we do about it?

Feel the Fear…and Do It Anyway!

As you know, in my STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT☕️🍵, we’re doing a deep-dive into The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (“JC”). This week is Week #8: Recovering a Sense of Strength.

In Chapter 8, JC asks us to beware of all the ways our inner turmoil can derail us from walking our creative path:

• To beware the “teacher” whose suppression of their own Inner Artist has caused them to give us poor advice, like an inaccurate or unhelpful assessment of our creative capabilities.
• To avoid being a victim of chance, the whims of the industry, and/or decisions from gatekeepers that we can’t control.
• To make sure we aren’t refusing creative opportunities that come to us because of our own self-doubt.
• To create our own creative opportunities by looking for the “other door,” when what we originally tried has failed to work for us.

For each, JC does a fantastic job of illustrating all the ways in which we can get stuck when we believe in false narratives and fall into a hole of rumination. And she describes many ways we can protect our egos by not trying:

• When we delay our creative work until retirement or another time that’s “better.”
• When we act like our creative work will completely derail our relationship/life plans, when it really won’t.
• When we allow our minds to waste time contemplating “the odds” of “making it,” as if we’re being asked to leap off a cliff, when that’s not what we need to do at all.

That’s a lot of mental pitfalls.

But, I love how JC shows us…

It’s NORMAL for Creatives to wrestle with all this inner drama.

How can we save ourselves?

We just need to focus on taking the next ”right step.”

And she gives us plenty of examples from her and other artists, to demonstrate how we can save ourselves from getting stuck in these mental traps.

Ultimately, what’s the takeaway?

Feel the Fear…then Find a Way to Do It Anyway!

I definitely recognize these mental traps in myself.

For example, for the longest time, I told myself I could not post any music because I didn’t know how to record my piano playing well.

And I didn’t have a full backing track to sing any songs.

I told myself lots of stories about this, like no one would want to listen to my singing a cappella, without any music to accompany it.

Then, one day, I decided to tell a story about an incident that happened to me when I was in middle school, when a fellow classmate criticized my singing.

Like JC said in Ch. 8, this past criticism derailed my willingness to sing again publicly.

But, as I described in the video I recorded, I learned to overcome it with a lot of healing & humor.

I posted the story with my singing, entitled [SING-ALONG STORYTIME VIDEO] How to Use Humor to Heal & Flip the Script on Limiting Beliefs, and I was so thankful when it was well-received on Substack.

It was a great lesson for me to learn: Limiting beliefs can be overcome, when we feel the fear and take action anyway.

I’ve done a few more videos like it since, that I now call my “Sing-Along Storytime” Series.

For me, this represents my taking the “next right step.”

I wonder what other “next right steps” I can take? Perhaps I can study how other people make high-quality audio recordings for their piano playing.

Now, take a Mindful Minute to reflect on your life:

⭐️ Do you recognize any mental traps in your own creative journey?

⭐️ Do you have a plan to get yourself out of a creative hole?

⭐️ Is your plan too complex? Can you come up with a simpler plan to take the “next right step”?

⭐️ Have you ever challenged a Limiting Belief by taking a smaller step, like me?

⭐️ Are you in the process of finding the “other door” that you can open, right now?

⭐️ If you can’t see any “other door” at the moment, what’s a “next right step” that might lead you there?

The Feelin’-Fear-&-Doin’-It-Anyway Creative in me honors & respects the Feelin’-Fear-&-Doin’-It-Anyway Creative in each of you,

Marisa

⭐️ Remember, we don’t have to figure everything out, all alone. ⭐️

We can find solutions, together!

Please join us in my

This is a special group for Writers, Artists, & Creatives like us, to have deep conversations about the Books that we choose, so we can implement what we learn, and unearth our truest, most Authentic Selves.

It’s the perfect way to

Share Our Recipes for Happiness:

• Have fun together;
• Share our triumphs;
• Vent from time to time — we’re human after all!
• Take a lighthearted approach to private journaling & Artist’s Dates; and,
• Grow the CREATIVE GENIUS inside all of us! 💐🌺🌷🌸🌹🌻🌼

Share Our Work (allow our True Self to be Seen):

With Notes Boost Challenges (NBC), we can share our favorite Notes of the week.

And, when we’d like, we can share our Works In Progress (WIP) and/or Final Posts, Music, & Art…whatever we’re proud of!

So we can Like, Comment, and/or Restack each others’ work to…

Share Our Joy (experience Connection with a kind & supportive Creative Community):

This is how we can come together, to grow through our own individual efforts, and feel the support of a kind & supportive Creative Community, too.

If that sounds good to you, then join us & say hello!

Join Marisa Victus’s subscriber chat

Available in the Substack app and on web

Come join us in the STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT! ☕️🍵 !

From Monday 2025–10–20:

It’s WEEK #8 of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron: Recovering a Sense of Strength.

Please share your thoughts in the Chat!

Let’s support each other so we can all grow in the direction that we choose for ourselves.

We got this! 🔮💪🙋🏻‍♀️🙌🔮

From Wednesday 2025–10–22:

STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT — 🤗 Let’s SUPPORT EACH OTHER with a NOTES & POSTS BOOST! 🚀

Let’s celebrate the Messy Middle with “WEDNESDAY WIPs”! Post a Note featuring a Work In Progress — to intentionally celebrate what we are in the process of creating, so we can SAVOR & CELEBRATE the Messy Middle before it’s finished!

It’s a fun way for us to see what we’ve been up to, cheer each other on, & Like/Comment/Restack, so we can all GROW!🙌

Like the Sketch I included in the CHAT. It’s a sketch that represents my willingness to listen more & enter a state of Receivership, as JC recommends in The Artist’s Way.

The Before & After Sketches I shared (above) show the MESSIEST MIDDLE for my figure drawing: HANDS!

From Friday 2025–10–24:

Looking for a regular place to help boost each other’s Notes & Posts every week?

I host Notes Boost Challenges (NBC) every Friday in my STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT.

Feel free to share your latest Note or Post of the week, so we can Like/Comment/Restack yours & you can do the same for others, so we can all GROW!

Pull up a seat & come to our comfy & cozy Creative CHAT! Here’s to the Creative CHAT for me & you! 🎉📚🥳📚🎉

Subscribe if you want to see where this Creative Journey can take us!

Share

Leave a comment

BONUS — Did you know that all SUBSCRIBERS can read the 1st Book of THE OBSIDIAN CHRONICLES (OBSIDIAN: Birth to Venus) for FREE?

READ THE SYNOPSIS

Together, we’ll explore all the ways that we can 10x our life — mind, body, & soul.

We’ll learn the scientific, physiological, and psychological reasons why we are the way that we are. And…

We’ll combine that understanding with simple, active practices that will supercharge our self-improvement & give us unstoppable self-belief!

When you SUBSCRIBE TO MY SUBSTACK, you’ll gain access to these 2 resources:

(1) Every week, you’ll get my free Non-Fiction Newsletter on Substack, entitled Marisa VICTUS: Science of Synergy & Self; and,

(2) Every day, you’ll be able to entrain your brain — the quick & easy way — with my daily Mindset & Meditation (M&M) practice.

I’m building my own Mindset & Meditation (M&M) Community, so we can all invest in our truest, most Authentic Self.

🌸 Every day, I write ✍️1 handwritten✍️ M&M (Mindset & Meditation) Note.🌸

🧘🏻‍♀️If you want to grow with me, repeat these daily affirmations like I am.🧘🏻‍♀️

🙌Let’s entrain our brains to adopt these empowering beliefs.🙌

Plus, if you’d like to see me succeed (or flop 😂) as I practice in public,

(3) SUBSCRIBE to my free YouTube Channel!

Let’s FLIP THE SCRIPT!

CHANGE YOUR WORDS, CHANGE YOUR MINDSET, CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

Do you call yourself a “Worrywart” or a “Worry Warrior”?

It’s all in the eye of the beholder!

Remember, the words we choose to label ourselves matters tremendously.

In a way, I use my worry to be an Attorney. Worrying is another name for identifying potential issues and strategies for overcoming them. And not only in an adversarial context, but also in negotiations where everyone can win in some way.

What’s more, my worries have absolutely saved our family thousands of dollars when I hire the right people and negotiate contracts for house repairs/renovations/insurance, etc.

I don’t think I could do it without “worrying.”

When it’s in a proper healthy amount, I just call it good “preparation.”

Plan in advance and there’s no headache, I say!

And avoid the sting of calling yourself the wrong thing. There’s no need. You know what’s true for you.

Worry Warriors, UNITE!

Now, take a Mindful Minute to reflect on your life:

⭐️ When your mind ponders the “what-ifs” of life, do you subconsciously label yourself a “Worrywart” or a “Worry Warrior”?

⭐️ Do you ever take time to elevate your mindset, by choosing better words to define yourself?

⭐️ Do you have a Limiting Belief about “worrying”?

⭐️ Do you tend to “worry” an unhealthy amount? Or, do you stay within a healthy amount of “preparation”?

⭐️ Can you FLIP your words, to ELEVATE your mindset, to IMPROVE your life?

⭐️ This week, experiment with using better words to Flip the Script & feel better now.

The Worry Warrior in me honors & respects the Worry Warrior in each of you,

Marisa

⭐️ Remember, we don’t have to figure everything out, all alone. ⭐️

We can find solutions, together!

Please join us in my

This is a special group for Writers, Artists, & Creatives like us, to have deep conversations about the Books that we choose, so we can implement what we learn, and unearth our truest, most Authentic Selves.

It’s the perfect way to

Share Our Recipes for Happiness:

• Have fun together;
• Share our triumphs;
• Vent from time to time — we’re human after all!
• Take a lighthearted approach to private journaling & Artist’s Dates; and,
• Grow the CREATIVE GENIUS inside all of us! 💐🌺🌷🌸🌹🌻🌼

Share Our Work (allow our True Self to be Seen):

With Notes Boost Challenges (NBC), we can share our favorite Notes of the week.

And, when we’d like, we can share our Works In Progress (WIP) and/or Final Posts, Music, & Art…whatever we’re proud of!

So we can Like, Comment, and/or Restack each others’ work to…

Share Our Joy (experience Connection with a kind & supportive Creative Community):

This is how we can come together, to grow through our own individual efforts, and feel the support of a kind & supportive Creative Community, too.

If that sounds good to you, then join us & say hello!

Join Marisa Victus’s subscriber chat

Available in the Substack app and on web

Here’s what we’ve been up to in the STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT! ☕️🍵 !

From Tuesday 2025–10–14:

It’s WEEK #7 of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron: Recovering a Sense of Connection.

Come join us in the STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT! ☕️🍵 for WEEK #7 of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron: Recovering a Sense of Connection.

In Chapter 7, JC asks us to recover a sense of connection by focusing on:

(1) our receptive ability (how open we are to listening for & receiving help, direction, and guidance from the Universe); and,

(2) our active skills (the actions we take to do the creative work itself, that may be helped or hindered based on our perfectionism and/or willingness to take risks).

Many of us focus a lot on (2) and less on (1).

Personally, I find it fascinating that Julia Cameron defines art as “not about thinking something up. It is about the opposite: getting something down.”

JC makes it sound like art is something that the artist downloads from the ether, from the greater universe, from “the stratosphere….” And, when artists do this, “there is no strain. We’re not doing; we’re getting.”

So much so, the art itself “has its own plan. When a painter is painting he or she may begin with a plan, but that plan as soon surrendered to the painting’s own plan.”

⭐️ Does this this concept of Receiving come naturally to you?

⭐️ Is this an accurate depiction of your own creative process?

Please share your thoughts in the comments.

⭐️ On a scale of 1 to 10, rate if you agree with JC’s opinion or not (where 10 means that you agree with JC’s opinion 100%).

🤔 Do you believe that your current rating is helping you in your creative work?

⭐️ Or, do you want to change your rating?

🤔 Do you want to be more open to Receiving?

🤔 Do you want to take more Active steps?

⭐️ If you want to change your ratings, how do you plan to change them?

Please share your thoughts in the Chat!

Let’s support each other so we can all grow in the direction that we choose for ourselves.

We got this! 🔮💪🙋🏻‍♀️🙌🔮

From Wednesday 2025–10–15:

STUDY, SAVOR, & SUPPORT Each Other CHAT — 🤗 Let’s SUPPORT EACH OTHER with a NOTES & POSTS BOOST! 🚀

Let’s celebrate the Messy Middle with “WEDNESDAY WIPs”! Post a Note featuring a Work In Progress — to intentionally celebrate what we are in the process of creating, so we can SAVOR & CELEBRATE the Messy Middle before it’s finished!

It’s a fun way for us to see what we’ve been up to, cheer each other on, & Like/Comment/Restack, so we can all GROW!🙌

Like the Sketch I included in the CHAT (above). It’s a sketch that represents my willingness to listen more & enter a state of Receivership, as JC recommends in The Artist’s Way.

Pull up a seat & come to our comfy & cozy Creative CHAT! Here’s to the Creative CHAT for me & you! 🎉📚🥳📚🎉

If it’s not your cuppa tea/coffee/chai/matcha/whatevs,

Please Note:

For anyone who does not wish to participate in the Study, Savor, & Support each other CHAT, no problemo!

I will still publish my Newsletter, M&Ms, Sing-Along Storytime, Music, Videos, Science Fiction writing, & more!

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to send me a DM.

Have a fantastic weekend!

The Creative in me honors & respects the Creative in each of you,

Marisa

Subscribe if you want to see where this Creative Journey can take us!

Share

Leave a comment

BONUS — Did you know that all SUBSCRIBERS can read the 1st Book of THE OBSIDIAN CHRONICLES (OBSIDIAN: Birth to Venus) for FREE?

READ THE SYNOPSIS

Together, we’ll explore all the ways that we can 10x our life — mind, body, & soul.

We’ll learn the scientific, physiological, and psychological reasons why we are the way that we are. And…

We’ll combine that understanding with simple, active practices that will supercharge our self-improvement & give us unstoppable self-belief!

When you SUBSCRIBE TO MY SUBSTACK, you’ll gain access to these 2 resources:

(1) Every week, you’ll get my free Non-Fiction Newsletter on Substack, entitled Marisa VICTUS: Science of Synergy & Self; and,

(2) Every day, you’ll be able to entrain your brain — the quick & easy way — with my daily Mindset & Meditation (M&M) practice.

I’m building my own Mindset & Meditation (M&M) Community, so we can all invest in our truest, most Authentic Self.

🌸 Every day, I write ✍️1 handwritten✍️ M&M (Mindset & Meditation) Note.🌸

🧘🏻‍♀️If you want to grow with me, repeat these daily affirmations like I am.🧘🏻‍♀️

🙌Let’s entrain our brains to adopt these empowering beliefs.🙌

Plus, if you’d like to see me succeed (or flop 😂) as I practice in public,

(3) SUBSCRIBE to my free YouTube Channel!