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!
I spent some long awaited time with an old friend of mine and her family, and I’m reminded that we shouldn’t be afraid to challenge existing beliefs, norms, assumptions, expectations. Especially when it comes to protecting those we love.
Sometimes the people we love most don’t fit any mold. They challenge assumptions, both ours and society’s. They expand our understanding of things including how we love.
Our job isn’t to steer them back in line, to make them feel small, to put them in their place. It’s to protect their space, their path — so they can find their own light, their own truth, and their own version of self. Especially for the younger generations.
We’re in an era of tremendous change. We’re deconstructing long-held, inherited beliefs and assumptions and change is business as usual now.
And when it comes to our loved ones, and really all of us — maybe now is the time to lean into protecting spaces for growth, discovery, and change.
Not because it’s easy. Because it’s right. And because we are worthy of it. That is how we grow and evolve. We learn from each other and those we love. 🤍
More on the era of major change I see at the http://thecrv.com.
– Carmen Iglesias
Building Space for Growth & Acceptance
Protecting Our Community
There’s a kind of freedom, clarity, peace and dare I say adventurous spirit you gain (and regain), when you start to allow your inner compass to guide your decisions rather than relying on external pressures or others’ expectations.
In my https://thecrv.com/podcast-episode-2-building-unshakeable-self-worth-the-healing-journey/I describe it as a process of alignment, coherence and eventually embodiment. Where your actions reflect your inner truth — your mind, heart and body operate as one and you find yourself living authentically rather than stuck performing to meet expectations, inherited scripts or timelines, which often force us to make ourselves smaller and live in misalignment or less than we’re capable of living.
Unfortunately, that is part of our conditioning as we’re often taught to focus almost exclusively on the external world rather than in our own inner truth. So much so, that we often forget it’s really our own alignment that comes first, our inner truth that comes first, honoring our authenticity that comes first — and then all else follows.
But as we have often been reminded, this life is ours to live and create from. We came in with a gorgeous essence filled with talents, skills, attributes, in a body housing an irreplaceable heart, mind, spirit.
That is our clay to play with. And what exquisite clay it is!
So rather than hand it to the external world or to others to mold, we can lean into our alignment instead and shape it ourselves.
To play. To be. To live as we’ve always wanted. 🤍
– Carmen Iglesias
Releasing Expectations
Building the Life You Want
To add to a lovely question today:
What type of friend are you?
Here’s some other types of friends to celebrate:
❇️ The friend who stimulates you creatively and/or intellectually. Underrated but the friend who activates your curiosity or your imagination — the one who inspires you to experiment, imagine, be more creative and think deeper, differently or even bigger.
❇️ The friend you can go on adventures and side quests with. The slightly mischievous friend you can get into good trouble with and still survive. The one who sparks your zest for life, reminding you that life is meant to be fun and a little unpredictable.
❇️ The friend who gives great hugs. You know the one — those big hugs that feel like warm chocolate chip cookies on a cold, winter day with an extra kick of uncommon depth. The one who feels like home.
❇️ The friend you can call or rely on in a crisis or challenging times. Not every friend can handle heavy, intense emotions or circumstances and that’s ok. Those who can hold space and stay for you here probably had their fair share of practice.
❇️ The friend who’s always there, near or far, a phone call away, a flight away, growing right alongside you. Thoughtful, caring and present.
Whether you see some or all of these capacities in yourself or someone you already have, it’s not just worth naming, but also worth celebrating.
Remember to celebrate you and those you love, in all the ways you show up and they show up for you. 🤍
– Carmen Iglesias
Celebrating Friendship
Community Village
No Give Up In Us
Keep Going
Terrified… check.
Do I know exactly how this will unfold? Definitely not.
But can I do it? Yes.
Can I trust I’ll figure it out along the way? Also yes.
Will I show up and give it my all, whatever unfolds? Absolutely.🤍
– Carmen Iglesias
Permission to Dream Big
Opening to Life Again
What if we opened up more and allowed ourselves to be changed — by life, by love, by growth, by vulnerability, by heartbreak, by joy, by ecstasy?
But this requires that we become present to life — allowing ourselves to feel again. To be vulnerable.
Too often we become numb, afraid to open back up to a world that once hurt us (that was me and so many of us). But to live is to experience.
We’re meant to grow and transform through what we live. The question is: what do you do with the life you’ve been given?
How do you let it change you? Do you let it make you numb and invisible? Do you let it convince you you’re less than, a burden, too much, or that you should be just like everyone else? Or do you let it reveal your strengths and gifts — let it make you stronger, wiser, gentler, softer, more loving?
I would hope you choose for life to reveal you. To let it change you for the better. While also being discerning if it’s changing you into someone you’re not.
Because we get to choose. We get to choose how it changes us.
Life means something. You mean something. And you get to choose what life means to you — what matters most.
So open up more. Go create. Go dream. Go be. Go do the great things only you can. Time and life are too precious not to.
Right there with you. 💗
– Carmen Iglesias
Revealing Who You Are
Opening to Life Again
There’s a kind of commitment we don’t often give ourselves credit for, one that runs deeper than persistence — and it’s tenacity.
We’re really good at crediting persistence — we see it every day. It’s the showing up, the grinding, the milestones on a path you can actually see, with the resources and support to back you. It’s often easier to see and important to praise.
But what happens when the path gets murky? When resources and people start to thin out? When everyone else has moved on, and you’ve taken so many steps backward you’re not sure there’s a way forward at all anymore, but you still keep going?
That’s tenacity.
Less visible than persistence, but just as powerful — tenacity is the engine that keeps you going when it’s all you have left. And because there’s no milestone to point to, we rarely credit ourselves for it. We just think we’re lost, behind, or chasing a fool’s errand.
But if you’re still moving even when the path appears to have disappeared or you find yourself mapless but something in you keeps pulling you forward: instinct, gut, discernment, inner compass. That’s not a fool’s errand. That’s tenacity. And that is not something we can always see so clearly in ourselves.
So the next time you’re committed to moving forward while everything feels unclear and unsteady, know that’s your tenacious spirit revealing itself — keeping you going.
And that deserves its own kind of celebration and praise. Because even when no one else can see it, you can still see the strength in yourself. And that always counts. 🤍
– Carmen Iglesias
Discovering Your Strengths
Appreciating You
Appreciation post for the loved ones and all of those who’ve been working tirelessly towards dreams or goals for years, and are now starting to see the fruits of their labor — I see you and I’m proud of you.
Whether it’s simply getting a job, or pivoting to a new, unexpected career at an older age, or getting through an extremely long, intense healing cycle, or finally pushing a new, innovative venture forward — no matter how unique or how small, it’s a win nonetheless.
All wins and pivots towards what you want, what’s guiding you and what you’ve dreamed of — count.
So keep going and doing the work. Proud of you.
To new adventures! 🤍
– Carmen Iglesias
Proud of You
Appreciating You
How often do you leave room for the unexpected connection? The surprising conversations that seem ordinary enough on the surface, but reach something deeper?
Probably not most of us. Because we’re often so focused on getting from point A to point B, on finishing the task at hand or getting what we want, that we forget the surprising experiences and joy of the in-between moments. The ordinary, unassuming but meaningful connections we can experience with random strangers, that sprinkle a little wisdom in our day.
It’s the surprising conversations you have on your car ride to work: with the mother who ended a fifteen year friendship because her friend couldn’t accept her daughter, who is transgender. Fifteen years of history, and she chose her kid without hesitating. But most importantly, she chose love she said — unconditional love.
Or the driver who welcomed you with a calm, steady joy. Who tells you he’s simply happy to be alive. And you can tell he’s not just saying that, he’s living that. And then he shares his thoughts on humanity, which surprisingly match yours. A strange, quiet validation, that there are others who feel as you do.
We may be strangers, but we’re not simply here to pass each other by. We’re meant to learn a little more about ourselves and the human experience, and we do that by being open and present to connection — whether or not it brings us anything in return.
And remembering that the small, ordinary, day-to-day, is just as meaningful as the big, obvious stuff.
So here’s to being present — as always, a gift. 🤍
– Carmen Iglesias
The Depth of Ordinary Moments
Opening to Life Again
Some seasons in life are quiet and reflective. Some are busy and creative. Some are both at once.
Whichever one you’re in, know it’s not wrong to follow its pacing — even when the world around you expects otherwise. Or even when nature itself is in a different cycle than you.
You might find yourself in a slow, reflective or preparatory season in the middle of spring or right now, while everything and everyone is outside blooming, active, and speeding up. No worries. Know you’re not behind or misaligned, that’s just where you are right now and what you need.
So don’t discount your season. Follow the pacing you’re guided toward.
And here’s a secret: the people who honor their rhythm are the ones who can take giant leaps and accelerate in a more precise, intentional, powerful way later when the time is right — because they didn’t diminish their precious energy fighting their own timing.
So follow you and trust your timing. 🤍
– Carmen Iglesias
Your Seasons
Embracing You
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