thecreativeverse creativity is our human superpower.
Welcome to my Substack Notes — a collection of near daily shorter insights on topics that I’m interested in or inspired to reflect on deeper!
Gentle reminder to be kind to yourself. You and we, are all just doing the best we can with what we know, where we are, with the tools, the knowledge, the maturity, the capacity we have right now.
So the next time you feel less than, not enough, like you’re failing somehow or not moving at all, here’s some notes to self that work for me:
🔸I am doing the best I can with what I have. As I know better, grow and learn more about myself, I can make different choices that are in greater alignment with who I am becoming and who I truly am.
🔸I am always growing, no matter my age. Knowing this, I am committed to being kind and loving with myself through this journey of life.
🔸Every single day, I have an opportunity to try again — to make a new choice, to see new opportunities and take a new step in any direction I want.
🔸Yesterday’s choices or versions of me do not define who I am and what I can do or become next.
🔸 Nothing is ever wasted. I can find meaning in every moment (even the tough ones) and that helps me grow.
🔸Even when I step into the unknown, I am supported by my inner guidance and wisdom.
🔸I am not slow, late, or behind, I am right on time for my unique unfolding.
🔸 I am allowed to take up space and show up exactly as I am.
🔸I am worthy and valuable and deserve the good stuff. I am on my side, rooting for myself always. 💗
– Carmen Iglesias
Be Kind to Yourself
Embracing You
🧵 1/2 What if the timing and beat of the world isn’t always, or even often, aligned with yours?
Something I’ve learned to trust more of, as I journey through life, is the timing of things. Which I do love writing about. Because I think we’ve been too heavily influenced to believe that everything we ever want must happen now, right now, or we’ll never get it. And so we strive and work and push and chase hard, to make it happen by these predetermined time markers. As if life is a straight line, sequential and known.
And yet we know this isn’t true at all. Our life story can be predictable in some ways, but most of the time, it’s unpredictable. It can throw you some really solid curveballs you never saw coming. It can land you in a deep, dark ditch somewhere that you have to find a way to climb out of. It can guide you to an oasis that provides a kind of refuge before the next leg. Or lead you to a mountaintop you’ve achieved, that you’re meant to come back to later. Each experience meant to reveal more of you.
Knowing this, perhaps we owe ourselves some compassion when we feel like we missed a particular milestone everyone else had a chance to experience, or society says we should’ve experienced by a certain age. Because maybe we didn’t miss it at all. Maybe it’s just running on a different rhythm.
– Carmen Iglesias
Right On Time
Embracing You
🧵 2/2 Maybe you didn’t get the light version of your early years. So you didn’t feel like you were able to experience the full joy and freedom of that age. Maybe you were carrying more responsibility, more obligations, more real life than most people carry in those years.
But what if you didn’t lose that era like you thought? What if it just wasn’t the timing yet for you to experience the full version of that freedom and joy? What if it didn’t disappear but is just arriving on its own schedule: maybe already here in a different package or still on its way, closer than you think?
Rather than losing an experience of freedom and joy, you’re just meeting it in a different way, through perhaps a more expanded version of you. And maybe that’s the point.
We don’t always know how the wisdom, the self-awareness, the growth we experience in all that life offers, is going to shape how we receive life today or even years from now.
So perhaps a new way to see what we feel are missed experiences, is to go deeper. To find the gift, the lesson, the wisdom gained. Because as I’ve learned, that wisdom is what allows you to recognize when the moment comes back around in a different way or comes in an entirely new form. So that you can meet it, as the person that is ready to receive it at its fullest.
To appreciating our rhythm and as always, our journey. 🤍
– Carmen Iglesias
Right on Time
Embracing You
Remember Nature when you need a quick break or a shift out of something heavy. She is the balm, the refuge, always patiently waiting to welcome you in. ❤️
And may I develop this kind of green thumb mastery myself one day. 🥰
– Carmen Iglesias
Take a Moment
Grounding, Centering & a lil Magic
If there’s anything I keep coming back to, it’s that we can only strive to be everything we are. Strive to allow and love each part of ourselves — the seemingly challenging parts, the lighter aspects, the depth, the surface, the wounded parts, the parts that clash. It all lives within us, pieces of a mosaic that, put together, make us whole.
Each part is precious in the story it tells and the life it lets us live, however imperfect that may seem. And yet we expend so much energy trying to discard that story — trying to fit our environment too much, trying to hide our parts and pieces so we can squeeze into the labels and boxes we think we need, as if we’re not good enough just to exist as we are.
Still, precious we are, even in our becoming. Because even if it doesn’t always feel that way or we can’t see the full picture yet, this is the work: to accept and cherish each part on its own, to let them come together, and then to cherish the whole they become. We can appreciate exactly who we are today, knowing we’ll wake up tomorrow as someone more, and love that too.
We have so much to offer ourselves, our loved ones, and the world. That offer requires us to let all our parts breathe, to heal, to be seen, to grow and come together as one — every piece making up the mosaic that is us, in its complete beauty.
That’s our challenge here, if we choose to accept it: not only to experience life in all its contrast, variation, creativity, and beauty, but to experience ourselves that way too. Perhaps this is where we feel most alive.
To bloom as intended, through it all. Not perfectly, but just as we are.
To us, always. 🤍
– Carmen Iglesias
Just As You Are
Embracing You
A gentle reminder, in case you may have forgotten:
You are not behind. You are not delayed.
And I know it can feel that way. Especially when you see others hitting supposed milestones, seemingly moving faster, maybe building and creating on their own. But it’s important to remember your timeline is your own.
You came into this world with a singular blueprint of gifts, talents, dreams, wisdom, and heart. And each part has its own timing and unfolding. Which can’t be fully experienced or expressed, if we’re constantly measuring ourselves against milestones, comparisons, or someone else’s timeline.
Perhaps that’s why one of the most common regrets is realizing how much time was spent living by external expectations instead of inner wisdom.
So the next time you find yourself looking outward or to others to gauge how well you’re doing, try going within instead. Are you listening to what calls you, stirs you, and makes you feel connected and alive? Are you willing to follow where it leads — slowly, faithfully, even imperfectly in your own time?
Trust your pace and your inner compass.
We are not behind schedule. We’re still blooming. You and me both. 🤍
– Carmen Iglesias
Right On Time
Embracing You
Recent life events brought me back to something I’ve come to realize: sometimes our wounds can only be ours to carry. But not forever.
It became apparent to me a long time ago, as I began an extremely challenging season of life, that I would need to carry the burden of my experience alone for a time. That I would need to hold the weight myself as I processed it and worked toward healing. Not because I wasn’t supported by my loved ones, but because not every wound I carried in that role needed to become theirs as well.
By that time, I had already grown deeply familiar with loss, supporting those in my role through unimaginable harm and trauma.
Rather than carry that forward, I unconsciously created a kind of space of emotional containment to process it.
And while this created periods of distance with my loved ones, today I can return to that time with gratitude.
My loved ones offered me the space I needed and stood by me while I worked through those years. And in return, I did the work within that space to release the burdens that weighed me down.
Today, as I (like many out there) prepare for a new chapter and release my old role, I find a new kind of steadiness — one that comes not from distance or containment, but from having passed through it all. And a new kind of wholeness — knowing these burdens are behind me, and that whatever comes next, I don’t have to carry it alone.
And I am grateful. 🤍
– Carmen Iglesias
Not Alone
Sharing Burdens
I’m reminded this week, once again, of how fragile life really is.
Over the years, I’ve been given many reminders of this when people I once knew closely, and people I loved deeply, are with us for a season and then are gone.
As devastating as that reality is, it continues to be one of my most powerful reminders to truly live. Not to retreat from life, but to lean into it. To experience it in all its variations, shades, and seasons. To become aware of the lessons and blessings found in each moment and in every person who crosses our path — whether they are with us for a season or for a lifetime.
So many of us become burdened by our wounds, our responsibilities, or consumed by what is happening “out there,” or with others, that we stop being open and present to the life happening now and within ourselves. And in doing so, we miss the gifts that life is always offering us: beauty, love, creativity, growth, wonder and so much more.
But how do we become open to this when our wounds so often ask us to close again?
We anchor into ourselves. We slow down. We become present. We open our hearts to life in all its infinite variations — as it unfolds.
We choose life anyway.
For those who left us too soon, for those still with us and for ourselves.
We live. ❤
– Carmen Iglesias
Loss
Embracing Life After Loss
I’ve been reflecting on this for a while now. Many of us including myself, are often taught that our value and worth is defined by the external world, when I’ve found it’s really the opposite.
The true essence of our value doesn’t reside out there or with others, or even because of what we do. It resides within us. In who we are. That can never be taken from us, that’s something we already own.
If we relied on the external world or others to be the sole source of our value, we would always be operating on shaky ground. Susceptible to trauma when the external world or people we love are no longer in relationship to us. Because people change and grow, circumstances change, status changes. The external world and others are always changing, but what never changes, is your core self. The essence of who you are.
So rather than focus solely outward for your definitions of value, what’s important is to practice understanding that we belong to ourselves first. And the deeper we understand this, the better. Our value and worth is defined by us, it comes from us first. From the inside out.
This is definitely something I had to learn the hard way from years of defining my value singularly from my work, my external effort, and others rather than myself.
It’s the lesson that took me the longest to learn, and it’s what the Building Unshakeable Self Worth series is built around.
So if this resonates, feel free to join me there. 🤍
Podcast Episode 0: Building Unshakeable Self-Worth – The Foundation (Foundations)
– Carmen Iglesias
Unshakeable Self Worth & Value
Depth Matters Podcast
Rainbows
Grounding, Centering & a lil Magic
Breath is one of life’s simplest necessities, profoundly essential and grounding. We rely on it every moment, but often take it for granted.
What’s profound is that the breath is also one of the most powerful tools for returning to yourself — especially during times of challenge, uncertainty, or overwhelm.
One practice that carried me through some of my most difficult seasons is Deep Ocean Breathing, also known as Ujjayi Pranayama or Ocean Breath.
True to its name, this technique mimics the calm, rolling sound of ocean waves, extending the breath inside and calming the nervous system, reducing stress, and creating a sense of steadiness from within.
So the next time you’re feeling overwhelmed, overworked, unsure of what you’re doing, give this a try.
When you learn to own your breath, you reclaim your center. And from that place, you give yourself the opportunity to stay steady and find your way through anything.
Especially for those who depend on your love and care, and just as importantly, for you, this is a tool to remind you to pause and breathe — you’re doing the best you can. And you’ve got this. 🤍💗
– Carmen Iglesias
The Breath
Grounding & Centering
I don’t think we give ourselves enough credit for learning to appreciate the poetry, richness, and gift of life.
We’re often taught to experience life at warp speed, moving constantly from one thing to the next, from one milestone to the next, from one dream to the next. As if life is simply a checklist to mark off.
Yet we’re rarely taught the beauty of resting in-between. Of finding meaning in the spaces between moments. Of going beneath the surface to recognize the gifts, lessons, beauty, and poetry available to us at all times.
Sometimes we arrive at this understanding through loss, trauma, or life’s challenging major transitions. For those who come to it this way, it often takes seasons to rebuild and heal, learning how to feel safe in life again. Other times it comes more quietly, through reflection or simply paying closer attention as life unfolds. However it arrives, by whatever path, that recognition itself is a gift.
So the next time you feel the wondrous beauty of an early morning sunrise, the calming lull of waves meeting the shore, the tiny hands that grip yours with complete trust, the quiet satisfaction of meeting another day, the profound love and support of those you trust, or the celebration of new life — whatever moments stir your heart, remember: this is life — a life with depth.
Life is just as dazzling in glitter and glamour as it is in the sacred ordinary. Everything has its season, and whether life accelerates or slows, the beauty and poetry remain. Learning to recognize this is one of the greatest gifts we can receive.
To life. 🤍💗
– Carmen Iglesias
Finding Meaning
Embracing a Life of Depth
I catch myself sometimes lamenting the good ol’ days as we all do. Lamenting the version I was when I was younger. The physical fearlessness, the greater confidence, the sharpness, the quickness, the accomplishments, the forward presence and energy ready to take on the world. And I miss her. I think that’s normal.
But then I look at these bright, mischievous eyes of mine and see so much more than my younger version could ever imagine me capable of. Every victory, every loss, every sacrifice, every lesson experienced, every piece of wisdom earned, every love given, every scar still healing carries a gift and a story within it and I can’t help but be…
Moved …
The version I am now is exactly who I’ve always wanted to be.
And my younger self would be so proud of her. 💗
– Carmen Iglesias
Exactly As I Am
Embracing Your Journey
If you’re someone who gives generously and loves deeply, a gentle reminder:
You’re the one who brings things to life through your light. You’re the one who infuses others with sunshine and transforms others through your love.
Protect that gift. It’s an exquisite one.
That means boundaries. Not walls — boundaries. Knowing where you end and others begin. And knowing who can receive what you offer in a healthy, reciprocal way that works for all.
I’ve witnessed and held the hand of the most exquisite ones, taken for granted, hurt, misunderstood. Not because they were too much, but because the people around them or with them, didn’t have the capacity in their awareness or wounding, to receive what they were offering at the depth offered.
So this is your reminder: as you heal and grow, you will come to know clearly and become more discerning, about who is truly ready to receive what you carry.
And you will find the ones who will protect your gift the way you have always protected theirs.
What you offer is a blessing.
Make sure to shine that light onto yourself first, so you can grow into everything you’re meant to be. And then share it with the right ones, those you’re called to.
Here’s to you/us. 🤍
– Carmen Iglesias
The Gift
Embracing Depth