080. No One Wants Your Perfectionism But White Supremacy
At first this episode was titled “There Is No Rigor In Perfection, There Is Rigor In Your Play”. In a recent episode of one of my favorite podcasts Hidden Brain, psychologist Paul Bloom describes why play is an essential choreography of aliveness for most human and non-human species. He says it’s essential because it’s a container for “safe practice”. I keep thinking about this phrase, “safe practice”. Oftentimes perfectionism is mistaken for rigor. These two are NOT the same. Perfectionism stops us from starting, rigor invites us to try. The fear rooted in perfectionism is an indication of feeling unsafe inside our practice. My intention inside this episode is to offer spells for cultivating a felt sense of safety inside our practice through rigorous play. ResourcesLet’s Work Together 1:1 On Launching Your Newsletter in 8 Weeks: https://www.seedaschool.com/coachingSubscribe to the Seeda School Substack: https://seedaschool.substack.com/Follow Ayana on Instagram: @ayzacoFollow Ayana on Threads: @ayzacoFollow Seeda School on Instagram: @seedaschoolCitations“God Owes Me A Favor: Let’s Collectively Call It In” by Ayana Zaire Cotton“Ouch! That Feels Great”, Hidden Brain Podcast Episode with psychologist Paul Bloom and Shankar VedantamAlexis Pauline Gumbs on Finding CeremonyZora Neale Hurston, “The Dream is the Truth” in Their Eyes Were Watching Godnènè myriam konaté's Substack, Instagram and Manifest(o) RetreatOcean Vuong on being "summoned, despite yourself"Cover Art: Lorna Simpson, did time elapse (2024) Materials: Acrylic and screenprint on gessoed fiberglass Dimensions: 259.1 x 365.8 x 3.5 cm / 102 x 144 x 1 3/8 in. "Together, Simpson’s incandescent paintings draw attention to the danger hidden in beauty and, conversely, the beauty hidden in danger. Bringing us face to face with phenomena rarely witnessed by the human eye, they ask us to locate ourselves in the context of the cosmos." (Source: Hauser & Wirth)
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079. A Love Song For Conjure Women Cosplaying As Corporate Baddies
You know that meme that’s going around saying “propaganda i'm not falling for”? Well the propaganda we’re not falling for is the discourse that says we need to quit our day jobs in order to be “real artists”, “real diviners”, “real entrepreneurs”. Or whatever, because truth is…we can be working full-time inside our passion and still be in misalignment with the sometimes uncomfortable and terrifying invitations of our creative spirit. My intention behind recording this podcast episode is to invite us to explore how we might bring our full witchy-ness into our work. Less about the "what" of what we do and more about the "how". How do we show up in the fullness of our power, how do we maintain boundaries that support our bodies and how do we refuse to sever ourselves from our spirit for work misaligned with our values? We’ll explore all this and more in today’s episode.ResourcesLet’s Work Together 1:1 On Your Creative Offer: https://www.seedaschool.com/coachingSubscribe to the Seeda School Substack: https://seedaschool.substack.com/Follow Ayana on Instagram: @ayzacoFollow Ayana on Threads: @ayzacoFollow Seeda School on Instagram: @seedaschoolCitationsCover Art: Julie Dash, Daughters of the Dust (Film Still), 1991
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078. Working Harder is Unnecessary, Certainty Is An Illusion, Hold On To This Instead
077. Dropping the Master's Tools, Dreaming Beyond Institutional Support
My intention behind recording this episode is to humbly invite us to consider what got us to our current reality might not get us to our wildest dreams. Maybe it was ambition, external validation or the perceived safety of playing small inside our own dreams that got us here but these postures of practice are too hollow to strike this moment and inspire long-lasting change. What if we dreamed from inside the sturdy validation of love instead? A regenerative force of motivation we can sustain over a lifetime, expanding into actualized dreams too wild for words. Upon further inspection, through the looking glass of interdependence, we see it is love that got us here and it’s love that will get us there, to worlds as yet unnamable.ResourcesEnroll in the Seed A World Retreat or Register for the Worldbuilding Workshop to Learn More: https://www.seedaschool.com/programSubscribe to the Seeda School Substack: https://seedaschool.substack.com/Follow Ayana on Instagram: @ayzacoFollow Ayana on Threads: @ayzacoFollow Seeda School on Instagram: @seedaschoolCitationsThe Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House by Audre LordeKaren M. Rose’s (IG: @empresskarenmrose) Libra Full Moon PostAlexis Pauline Gumbs on The Black Studies PodcastCover Photo: “Anna Julia Cooper: Educator, Writer and Intellectual” (Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture)
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076. On Knowing When To Get on Your Zoom or Get in the Bed
I am recording this episode for the push through artists who have worked so hard, for so long that they don’t even know what their max capacity is — every year presents new challenges, requiring new limits, seemingly stretching into infinity. I am recording this episode for those who delight in the rigor of a challenge and experience an erotic charge when spirit is inviting them into the next growth spurt or learning curve. I am recording this episode for those of us who are getting on our Zoom while grieving, because we desperately want to hit pause but the bills keep coming. I see you. I’ve been each of these worldbuilders, sometimes all at once. How do we know when a season is requiring our strength or our stillness? This is the question I hope to unpack in today’s episode.ResourcesRegister for the Free 2-Part Worldbuilding Workshop Series and Download the Spring 2025 Syllabus: https://www.seedaschool.com/programSubscribe to the Seeda School Substack: https://seedaschool.substack.com/Follow Ayana on Instagram: @ayzacoFollow Ayana on Threads: @ayzacoFollow Seeda School on Instagram: @seedaschoolCitationsDivining Poets: Clifton — A Quotable Deck from Turtle Point PressRest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia HerseyCare Manual: Dreaming Care into Being by kamra sadia hakimWhat It Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World by Prentis HemphillThe Last of Us on HBOCover Art: Somaya Critchlow, Untitled (Rope and Moon), 2018, Materials: Oil on Canvas, Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 in (21 x 14.8 cm)
Join host Ayana Zaire Cotton where they reflect on worldbuilding and interdisciplinary practice with occasional guests. "For The Worldbuilders" is presented by Seeda School which hosts a 9-week retreat helping you seed, deepen or return to an interdisciplinary practice, release a creative offer and develop a cohesive narrative through the framework of worldbuilding.
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