Come and Grow is a podcast hosted by two dear friends, Joy Star Bright and Lauren Barr. Lauren runs The Smarter Creative, a business operations studio for creative entrepreneurs. Joy is a soul care coach at Meridian Soul Care. They're different in how they work and see the world, but deeply aligned in what they value. Each episode anchors in a value discussion and what each host is learning right now. (listen on apple podcasts, spotify, youtube, pocketcasts) In this episode: * Joy’s donation page is almost done, and she’s noticing why it’s been so hard to hit publish after growing up as a missionary kid living on other people’s donations. Her journaling workshop has a name now, too: The Cartography of Calling, Tuesday, October 27 at noon, virtual * Lauren’s Seeking Space at Free the Gifts happened on a rainy mountain in a small room with five or six women. Alone time, together. Then a few days of recovering from all that peopling * This week’s value: presence. Being here, with other people and with yourself * Why Lauren can be fully present with someone else but struggles alone, and how an expected package can hijack a whole afternoon * Quick ways back: tapping, a cup of Tension Tamer instead of a Diet Coke, thumb-to-finger breathing, and the five senses * Joy’s four Ns from her therapist: notice, name, normalize, nurture. Plus the frozen mandarin trick * Choosing your life instead of running on default, thrift blindness, and the window of tolerance * Co-regulation, and why we sometimes try to fix other people so we can feel okay * What they’re learning: Lauren trades overwhelm for overload and names digital intrusion. Joy speaks up kindly in class about faith, psychology, and a book called Glittering Vices * What’s coming up: Ben turns 50, the Ohio buddies come to town, and there’s a Brunswick stew party with a bluegrass band. Plus a marigold front door. Joy heads to Myrtle Beach to see her chosen brother Tyson in Halloween City ✍️ Prompts for this week: Practice the four Ns once this week. Notice what's happening in your body, name it, normalize it with kind words, and ask what you actually need. Then sit with this: Am I present right now? What's pulling me away? And if you've been living on autopilot, ask yourself whether you want to keep living this way, and whether there's anything you're avoiding that's keeping you there. LET US KNOW We'd love to hear from you. DM us, drop a comment, or send a voice note on Instagram (Joy or Lauren or both!) and tell us which of the four Ns you tried, or what pulls you out of the present (or leave a comment on YouTube or here on Substack). We would love to hear from you. Resources and Links Mentioned: * The Cartography of Calling, Joy’s virtual journaling workshop (Tuesday, October 27 at noon): https://tally.so/r/gbj7M4 * Lauren’s The Seeking Space: https://smartercreative.myflodesk.com/seeking-space * Renovaré Institute (Joy’s certification program): https://renovare.org/institute * The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron: https://juliacameronlive.com/book/the-artists-way-a-spiritual-path-to-higher-creativity/ * Slow Productivity by Cal Newport: https://calnewport.com/slow-productivity/ * Glittering Vices by Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung: https://renovare.org/books/glittering-vices Connect with us: 🐚 Joy Star Bright / Meridian Soul Care * Website: https://www.meridiansoulcare.com/ * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meridian.soul/ 🪄 Lauren Barr / The Smarter Creative * Website: https://thesmartercreative.com * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesmartercreative/ * YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thesmartercreative This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comeandgrow.substack.com
