Put on Your Kick-Ass Boots, Baby

A 5-min. practice to re-write old stories 💗 that squelch your Brave Creative voice, plus a song for a slow morning on the sea

It’s Flourishing Friday. We’re here to strengthen our true Self (Sage, Soul, or?) so we can create our heart’s desire. If your creative spirit ever shut down, criticized, belittled, or squelched, today’s 5-minute practice (below) is for you. But first, a message for our sponsor, Mama Earth:

Let’s take back our power.

Somebody squelched or shamed your brave, creative voice: whether ‘helpful’ grown-ups, mean kids, critics, or toxic social media. Does this experience still hang out in your cells? The Monkeys of Resistance feed on old stories and fearful energy, and they’ll distract you from your dreams, darlin’.

Friends and even Disney princesses say, “Let it go!” But they never tell you how. How can we release old emotional residue, so we can liberate our brave creative Yes?

I created today’s Kick-Ass Boots practice to transform old stories of physical abuse that lived in my body. I spent a day alone with my notebook in our barn, a safe space to face and release big emotions without interruption.¹ I bravely revisited many experiences of harm from my early teens and twenties. The many times I’d ‘gone along’ into dangerous situations (hitchhiking, dates with much older men, etc.) and allowed my precious body to be harmed. I skipped fight and flight and went straight into freeze mode, again and again. WTF!

I didn’t know how to use my power, my voice, or my sense of agency.

When I put on my imaginary kick-ass boots in our barn, I tapped into a more mature inner strength. I physically stood up to those men from my past. I said, “NO,” out loud. I stomped. Kicked. Ran. Walked away to safety. Rewriting those victim stories created powerful new neuropathways.² (I burned that notebook in a ritual fire).

In “The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity,” Julia Cameron offers writing exercises to excavate and heal our creative wounds, those times when someone stomped on our exuberant creative souls. These wounds may not seem as damaging as physical abuse and trauma, but creative harm is disempowering, too (this from a woman who’s mostly reclaimed her singing voice, yet still struggles with Monkeys).

We can rewire old stories (it’s neuroscience).

When was your creative voice judged, threatened, or actively stifled? The Kick-ass Boots tool offers vivid, somatic creative healing. It’s also powerful to look at our reactive patterns, the ways we think and/or shrink from the potential of painful criticism. Let’s bring our stories to light. See you in the comments 💗

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Today’s 5-minute practice: Kick-Ass Boots

May this 5-minute practice empower your brave creative path. This video features my ridiculous alter-ego Queen Poopicina sharing the potty-mouth, ‘Holy Sh*t’ 💩 version of the tool, with a spontaneous song. Or you can follow the steps below.

Kick-Ass Boots: How can I reclaim my power?

TRIGGER NOTE: this practice stirs up big emotions. Choose a safe space. Allow 30 min. or more. If it feels too intense, consider professional support.

• BREATHE deep. RECALL a time when someone hurt you, took advantage of you, took something precious, inflicted a wound, or kept you from realizing your potential.

• VISUALIZE putting on a pair of tough boots. Notice materials, color, shape. Stand up.

• IMAGINE that person in front of you now. Let the boots do their thing: kick their ass, leave, or...? Say or do all the things you wish you’d done.

• BE SURE to calm down (with Balloon Breath³, Blanket or Smile tools).

• REFLECT: “Now, I feel...”

Make it Real: Transform old stories

• EXPLORE: Tell someone you trust or write about your experience with the Kick Ass Boots. (In the COMMENTS?)

• CREATE: Write, draw or re-enact the story, as if you’re a full-on superhero in boots and a cape. How did you save the day and prevail?

• MANIFEST: This week, find time and a safe space to get physical. Stand up. Kick or stomp or punch a pillow with all you've got. Just let it all out. Then, be sure to soothe and calm your body and heart. Celebrate being brave!

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🗣️ Your turn to be (mostly) brave…

1. Do you have a favorite pair of boots? Do they kick ass?

2. Did you have a perfect childhood where everybody supported you, clapped, and laughed at your creative shenanigans? Yay! You don’t need Kick-Ass Boots; you can stick with flip-flops or whatever.

3. Did you do a brave rewrite of an old story today? Please share. I’ll put on my boots.

4. Please Help: Do you like the title “Mostly Brave” or Mostly Brave Creatives?” My restless Distractor Monkey wants me to change the name of this Substack (so she can steal time avoid a difficult rewrite of my graphic novel that’s about HER. 🙈) Thanks!

Thank you for releasing your power 💝 Give a boost to other Mostly Brave Creative souls. Click the heart, comment, or share with someone who could use Kick-ass Boots to shift an old story. 🙏🏼💗🙌🏽

Now, go kick ass with your Mostly Brave Creative self. More to come,

1. Why not do this in therapy? Mental health counseling helps many people excavate their past wounds. However, some of my deepest harm came from counselors and coaches.

2. Our brains record vivid imaginative experiences the same as real life. “There is no categorical difference between imagination and reality…” - Neuroscience News

3. To follow the Kick-Ass Boots, try these 5-minute practices: Balloon Breath for calming; the Blanket for self-soothing; and the Smile for self-compassion.