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 Woman
- Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
- Sarah Shotts (they/them) is an artist-mother based in Arkansas
- The Neuro Nest (previously called Kindle Curiosity) is Sarah's podcast about neurodivergence, motherhood, chronic illness, and creative work
- A conversation with Sarah Shotts about creative capacity and inconsistent practice
- Range: Why Generalists Thrive in a Specialized World by David Epstein
- Ep. 9: A Mind for Memory with Brian Skellenger, Survivalist
- Magnet 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 life
- Ep. 1: Hello! I’m Sara Kobilka, Renaissance Woman
- A Bit of Optimism with Simon Sinek, Episode 68: Embracing the Fall with Carla Hall, Apple Podcast | Spotify
- The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
- The Tin Can phone
- The 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 Judith
- Ep. 10: The Forever Revolution with Jenni Gritters, Multi-Passionate
- YouTube video on how to create an electromagnetic nail
- Article on why not to use the term “Middle East”
- Radiolab (not Invisibilia as said in the episode) podcast episode on the “discovery” of interstitium
- Buy Me a Coffee (actually an oat milk cappuccino that I will purchase at a locally-owned coffee shop while working)
- Alycia’s website and Substack
Follow Alycia on Social Media:
A few things Alycia and I discuss:
3:30 Alycia’s winding path
4:51 The interconnection between physical movement and creativity
5:51 Flow in creative people
8:13 Flexibility requirement of caregiving
9:59 Creating structures for flow
11:07 Inconvenient inspiration
16:58 Improv as flow state
21:34 Being a natural rebel
23:20 Inspiration in waves
25:59 Answer the dreaded question by providing of roadmap and starting point
30:13 Not taking advice in business
32:55 Building trust in your gut and handling failure
48:31 The Creatrix Spiral and the seven chakra system
53:59 “Western medicine” vs “Eastern medicine”
56:32 Fairtrade coffee and ecotourism
Quotes 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 to kind of hold onto the things that, help me feel balance.
(Alycia) And I am worried a little bit about young people. Because I don't think we, as a society, give them enough space to try things that they're not good at or to completely suck at something for a long time. I always feel kind of inspired by artists or creatives who are like, I'm not a natural writer, but I really wanted to write a book, and I wrote a book eventually. You know, it took 20 years and I had to learn a lot. But I sucked at it before, and now I've done this thing. I find that deeply inspiring more so even than people who are natural born, whatever, and then they become that thing.
(Alycia) I think it is really important to acknowledge the experience of building a creative practice that doesn't come naturally to you by allowing for failure, allowing your kids to suck at something that they find interesting.
(Alycia) The structure, which I consider to be nourishment, taking care of the body, taking care of the mind, taking care of the heart is a spiral. It's like movement. And when we are nourishing ourselves and like regularly committing to that, flow isn't something you have to control or force, it just kind of happens.
Follow me, Renaissance Woman Sara Kobilka, on LinkedIn, where I put most of my social media energy, and Facebook.
If you’re extra curious, check out Renaissance Woman Consulting to learn more about some of the many types of work I do.
And should you care to support the production of this podcast, I’d love it if you’d buy me an oat milk cappuccino, my caffeinated beverage of choice.
This podcast is hosted and edited by Sara Kobilka.
Theme music is by Brian Skellenger
Podcast distribution support provided by K.O. Myers of Particulate Media
