Episode 2: Finding Flow with Author Rachael Cohen

Welcome to the Entertainment Business Podcast. I'm your host, Tisha Morris. Join me as we go inside the entertainment industry of film, TV, books, music, and all content creation, where we'll weave together the creative and business of entertainment with practical tips, inspirational interviews, and insider information of all the latest trends. And with that, let's get on with the show. Thank you so much for joining me on the Entertainment Business Podcast. And today I am so, so excited to have my guest, a friend, a client, and author extraordinaire, Raquel Cohen. She is, among many, many things, a nature-based spiritual life coach, a plant connector. Yes, we're going to learn more about that. An intuitive medium and an author. Uh, she has 3 books, the third of which just released, Self-Care for Eco-Anxiety. 52 Weekly Practices for Positive Personal Change Through the Power of Nature. And previous to this book, Everyday Plant Magic and Infinite Succulent. Thank you so much for joining me, Raquel.

Oh my goodness, Tisha, it's such an honor to be here. Thank you so much for inviting me.

Well, I'm really excited because, well, obviously we know each other pretty well. Um, I repped you in two of your books. Um, and yet I haven't had the chance to just really flesh out a lot of questions that I really, that I'm really excited to, to throw your way today. But first I want dive into your, really, your connection with nature. And so I have questions that I've never really asked you that I'm excited to kind of dig in. All right. So you ready?

I'm excited. Yeah.

Okay. So, and we're going to really go into your book here in a minute because I'm so excited about this. It's such a needed, needed topic. So first, I am— we're going to go back into the archives and I want to know what your first job was.

Like first job out of college or first job?

Like first paid job. Besides like babysitting, but like, okay, I was gonna be like babysitting.

Uh, okay, my first paid job was probably as a horseback riding instructor at a summer camp, and I taught kids at a summer camp, but I also taught adults, and then I also assisted with, um, therapeutic riding. So people coming in to ride specifically for occupational therapy and behavior therapy as well.

Okay, I see. I had a feeling it had something nature-based, and I was right. Always.

Always.

I assume you're going to say like, no, I worked at a clothing store in the mall because that was— that's what I did for my first job. So yeah, that really, really tracks with what I was thinking you were going to say.

It totally tracks.

I was thinking maybe like at like an aquarium or something, but definitely you're more of a land animal person, so that makes more sense.

Although I have to say, my second paying job was as a swim instructor.

Okay.

And I'm a Cancer Sun, Cancer Rising. So you weren't far off. Okay.

So you never did whale or dolphin training?

No, I did actually. That was after college. Yes, I did both of those things.

All right. Okay. That's awesome. All right. So that leads me back. So that leads me to the plant world. And so I want to know how you became one with the plant world or more the I guess the foliage of our planet. Yeah.

I love that question. So when I actually had this beautiful remembrance when I was writing Everyday Plant Magic that reminded me that I was actually really, really connected to the plants when I was very young, especially trees. My first best friend, and I remember this like acutely, was a crabapple tree in our front yard. I loved that tree intensely. Like, she was a friend. She had a personality. She would let us swing from her. I mean, I was really— until I was 5, she was my best friend. So, but I kind of forgot about that because in National Aspirations, I was really, really inspired by what we call charismatic megafauna, or they're cute and fluffy animals, or in the case of whales and dolphins, maybe not so fluffy, but still cute, right? I was really inspired by animals and The animals were kind of this doorway into the environment, into the habitats they lived within. But it was always the, the interest in the animals and the way they lived that kind of brought me into that world. So after, in college, I studied ecology and sociology because I've always been very, very interested and curious about the connection between people and nature, that particular relationship. So after I graduated from college, I moved to Oahu. 'Cause I was really interested in marine mammals, marine biology. I wanted to work with marine mammals and Oahu felt like a really good place to do that. And I was correct because it was a good place to do that. I got a job at Sea Life Park. I also started interning at the Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory, which was part of the University of Hawai'i. And I really kind of dove into the world of marine education, marine mammals, marine mammal research. And for me, plants were always like background. They were like the habitat or the food, but they didn't have the same level of like sentience and consciousness that the animals did. It wasn't until I was pregnant with my first daughter that I was like, I really want to start having more plants around. I remember trying before that, like trying to bring some plants into the house, trying to grow some zucchini. And I just, I was really, I was really bad. Like I killed a lot of plants. I'm going to be honest. I was kind of a black thumb at that moment. Like I just really wasn't good at it. And then I got pregnant and I got some houseplants. And I think there was something about the pregnancy that brought a level of like quietness and stillness into my life, into my own energy that made it easier for me to kind of quote unquote hear the energy of the plants, feel the energy that they had. And it really was this kind of like shift for me from maiden into mother where the plants came in really strong for me. Then after the birth of my second daughter, I fell into some of the pits of anxiety, eco-anxiety in particular, which we'll talk more about. I'm sure there was some hormonal stuff associated with that as well after having two kids in two years, but I just really fell deep back into anxiety, insomnia, depression. And at that moment in time, the plants literally came in as therapists and medicine for me. I found a therapist at the time who recommended this amazing book called The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. I'm sure we've talked about this before, Tisha Morris. Beautiful book for getting through blocks. And after reading that book and doing morning pages for a few months, I really felt this compulsion to start getting creative and start making little succulent terrariums out of clipped succulents and things I found around my yard. And when I would do that, it was the only activity I could do in that time that really brought my brain to a place of presence and quiet and stillness where I didn't have those really quick kind of spiraling anxious thoughts running through my mind or running through me at all. And so that was really my first, ah, journey with the energy of the plants and their own consciousness. And then from there it really grew. Like, I got really into making succulent art and I got so creative with it and it really unlocked my inner artist. And then as I was working with the plants, I noticed it increased my like subtle sensitivities, and I found some crystals to plant in, and then my subtle sensitivities just blew up, and I could like feel when the plants were drinking water, when they had enough, and sometimes I could hear them talk to me, and I was just like, what is happening?

Wow.

And I started, I started taking some classes in intuition and just kept working with the plants, and now I literally talk to plants and trees all the time.

Wow, wow, wow.

That's like a short short version.

Yeah, well, you kind of covered one of my questions intuitively that I was going to ask, and I'll ask it because you kind of already answered it, but I want a little bit more framework. I mean, I'm sure we all want to see how you see the world through your sensitivities of the natural world. And so as best as you can through words, how do you see the natural world in terms of animals, plants, and rocks, and, or I may be missing some species.

Yeah. I want to, I want to state it's not so much lower consciousness. It's more like the frequency of the vibration. So it's more of like when I was younger, my energy was really, really fast. And the energy of animals that also tend to move the way we do feels a little faster. The energy frequency of plants is slower. And it wasn't until I started kind of slowing down my own vibration with pregnancy and nesting and all that, that I could kind of feel in to the vibration that the plants were giving off. So it's not so much like the higher or lower, it's more like the frequency. And it's the same with rocks, right? Like minerals. And think about crystals, right? So I think of it really as a frequency thing. So when we're talking about the frequency of something like a mineral, a rock, a stone, a crystal, we're talking actually can be slower, but it's very, very stable. It doesn't have as much volatility. It stays very stable with their vibration, which is actually why as humans we are so drawn to crystals, is because as a human our vibration is like all over the place. And so we can actually utilize that very like stable energy of a stone to help create a little bit more stability within our own system. So actually Yeah, so actually, us knowing that we're very fast-paced, sometimes finding something that's slower can be a really beautiful counterbalance. Because remember, as energetic beings, we're always seeking a form of homeostasis, a form of balance, which is, you know, we just had spring equinox yesterday, we're in eclipse season, like balance is a theme, right? For sure. And I, I really see balance as a huge theme in nature. Um, balance and interconnectivity. So, you know, I can look at things like the mineral stone world, the, the plant world, and the animal world in terms of frequency, rate of movement. But ultimately, we're all interconnected, and the plants utilize some of those energies from the stones just like we do. And I believe the stones, in some way or another, harness some of the energy from us and the plants as well. I'm not sure exactly how it all works, but I, I believe, and I feel so deep in my soul, this kind of oneness of interconnection and this recognition that life in itself is really, uh, um, the sacred reciprocity where everything is always giving and taking kind of simultaneously. So I know that if the plants and the animals and the stones are so beneficial to us humans, I also believe that us humans are beneficial to the plants and the animals and the stones, or at least we have the capacity to be, right? Yes, potential.

That is so beautiful. Um, when I used to do space clearing as part of my feng shui practice, um, uh, when I was basically— I would— if there was a plant in the room, I would, I would always go to the plant first, and it, it would tell me, or I could sense through it what the energy in the room was like.

Oh, I love that. Can I ask you a question about that? Yeah, because I find, you know, a lot of people come to me and ask me questions about like, how do you communicate with your plants and all this? And I think the funny thing about it is I think we already are often communicating with plants intuitively and just not knowing it. So I would love to hear how when you would go and talk to the plants, like, how did you receive their answers? Yeah, like a knowing.

Yeah, well, a feeling, you know, that's Cancer signs. We're feelers, right?

Yes, we are.

Yes, we are. But I could also feel in my hand, like a physical feeling in my hands if the plant was healthy or if it was struggling, that would be a big clue. And so if it was struggling, I would clear the plant first because it's going to help. They're kind of like cats. They're healers of spaces.

Yes, they are.

And so we got to heal the healers first. Love that. So, yeah, it was— yeah, that was a fun— always a true, true sign. One time in one of my own homes, I was going through a hard time, and all of a sudden all my plants died, like, just like within a week or two, and I wasn't doing anything different. And so, I mean, that was before I really got into my feng shui practice, but that was definitely helpful in me knowing how sensitive plants are to the energy.

Yeah. And I think in a situation like that, because I know people could go immediately into shame or blame of themselves when that kind of thing happens, and I always let people know plants do not view death the way humans do. They are not fearful of death. They go to it gratefully, willingly. And it sounds like in the situation you're talking about, the plants were very willingly actually kind of surrendering themselves so that that energy didn't actually impact you. It was almost like they sacrificed themselves.

Oh my gosh, that's so beautiful. Yeah. Yeah, I never thought about— so yeah, I mean, so for people listening, like, I mean, I just have this plant in my bathroom that's about to die and like, it hurts to see me struggle. So maybe I should just throw it in the compost bin and like, let it— and I don't have to feel guilty or bad for it. Not at all.

Not at all. In fact, they enjoy the idea of being composted.

Okay.

They love knowing that their death just generates more life. And they also very quickly move into the next iteration. I don't— from what I understand, from what I've experienced through communication with plants and animals, they have a much better memory of previous lifetimes than we do as humans. I feel like we're actually like forgetting is part of the process, right?

Just focus on the present. Come on.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, I think there are a few who do maintain a memory for some reason or another, but most of us are destined to forget because our purpose— well, I don't want to say purpose because that's such a loaded word, but so much of the point of this life is to remember, to remember that we are so much more than just the physical, you know.

So your work with plants and the natural world has, just because I know from your books, um, extended into, into using crystals and rocks. Um, and I love how you mentioned this like symbiotic relationship. And I know, or I kind of intuitively put some stones and rocks in my plant, in my plant planter plants. Is that something you recommend?

Yes, definitely. In fact, I actually plant into crystals very often.

Yes, I know. And they're beautiful. And you can go to her, uh, Raquel's website and check them out because they're gorgeous. Yeah.

So I highly recommend it whenever I get crystals that break, because sometimes they'll fall or break or little— like, I always put those in with the plants. Um, I just find that they, they go together like, like peas and carrots, you know what I mean? Like, they just enjoy being with each other. I definitely believe that that very stable energy of the crystals does help support the plant, and especially if it's a plant we're caring for in our own home. If we're not like super consistent— not that we're I don't believe you have to be on a set schedule with caring for your plants because honestly it's better to like read their needs. But sometimes we can kind of forget at home, but when we have crystals in there, it kind of helps maintain their needs a little bit longer because of the energy it provides. So yeah, I'm a big fan of that. And in Everyday Plant Magic, I even share some recommendations of specific crystals to pair with specific plants because they Yeah, they just have good energies for each other and their energies together create a nice ripple out into your home.

You know, just talking about these topics, it's, it's what you were saying, like my, my, my everything, my body just kind of relaxes as we talk about plants. And, um, yeah, I, I, I am tapping into your connection with, with, with plants.

And it makes sense too. You know, with what you do with feng shui as well, with the whole concept of biophilic design. Have you heard of biophilic design before? Yeah, because you're in interior design. So, but biophilic design is basically the idea of bringing nature, actually components of nature, and also some of the like elements and structures of nature into the built environment because of the knowing that humans have evolved in nature, and thus our cells are best if— like, they— our cells are happiest when exposed to natural environments. Yes, because that's how we evolved.

I mean, the only reason we need feng shui for interiors is because we don't live outside.

Um, I love that.

Yes, yes, it's the, the four walls and a roof that— this, this, this box that we've created that cuts us off from nature That is why we need feng shui to help harmonize our space with, with the natural world. And the closer we live to nature, the more harmony we're going to experience in our mind, body, and spirit. And so yeah, if we just all lived out in the woods, we might freeze to death, but we wouldn't need feng shui.

So true. So true. You know, that is part of the complexity of being human, right? Like it's this, it's this recognition and it's part of the complexity with our relationship with nature too, right? Like, right, you know, back in the day before we had civilization, there was that nature can kill you 100% without the support of community, without resources, the elements could kill us, right?

Right.

But now we're in this kind of like far on the other end of it where we're recognizing that our lack of connection to nature is killing us.

Yep. You know?

Yeah. And so Yeah, finding that, that balance, like this, like, again, nature loves balance.

This leads to your newest release, Self-Care for Eco-Anxiety. And I think, well, you know more about this topic than I do, but I'm imagining our pursuit for comforts monetarily, corporate, corporate, corporate-wise, and in all levels, it's, it's what's leading to this imbalance. And so I'd love to hear kind of your, the backstory to bringing for you behind this book. And, and also what really defined eco-anxiety for us. I think I have a, I have a sense in my, in my body what that is, but I'd love to hear you explain it.

Yeah. So the American Academy of Psyche— psych— psychology. Yes. Or psychiatrics. I can't remember what the exact right word is, but they define eco-anxiety as a pervasive of like existential dread over future environmental catastrophe. It's basically this like consistent pervasive feeling of fear, or it can be grief, or it can be anger, or sometimes it can even be apathy, um, a resignation even, right, over the future of our planet and us humans on the planet because of environmental destruction and specifically because of climate change. Some people use the word climate anxiety. They might be more familiar with that. But when we think about what's happening to the planet, it's so much more than just climate, right? We're also talking about pollution and deforestation and habitat destruction. And so just, you know, the environmental issues that we're facing. One of the things that I think it's really important for everyone to note, if you have dealt or are currently dealing with feelings of eco-anxiety, whether that be anxiety, fear, guilt, dread, dismay, depression, apathy, grief, all of those things. I just want you to know, first of all, you're not alone. And second of all, you're not crazy. Your responses are absolutely sane because what we as a society are doing is insane. This level of living with productivity above life, above sustainability, it's an in sane behavior for us humans to be doing because we are literally acting our way into our own demise. Earth is not dying, but the way of life on Earth that we have benefited from with a stable climate, that is on its way out because of our behaviors. That's crazy. That's a crazy thing for a species to be doing. So the anxiety or eco-anxiety response is totally sane. So I just want you to know that first and foremost. You are paying attention and you are having a valid, reasonable response.

Amen. Yeah, very well said.

I think that's like just really important. Like, yeah, let's just start with that baseline, right? Like, there's nothing wrong with you. There's something wrong with our civilization, right?

We're—

I don't think I'm the first person to point out that we are living in a sick society. Okay. So eco-anxiety is a symptom of a sick society. And in fact, I think eco-anxiety points to our wellness in so many ways. Because it reminds us that we know it doesn't have to be this way, that we know that there's a better way for us to live upon this earth, and that we believe that it's obtainable right here and right now. And ultimately, that's, you know, what my hope for Self-Care for Eco-Anxiety really is like, this book is not going to be the book that's going to tell you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Solutions matters. And when it comes to something like climate change, eco-anxiety, environmental destruction, I actually see what we're facing as a spiritual wake-up call. I see climate change as a spiritual— I mean, everything is a spiritual issue, honestly, but I really see climate change and environmental destruction as a major spiritual issue that is here to raise our consciousness as humans. Because it's going to require all of us to have a better under— a deeper understanding of our interconnectivity in order to move forward. And I mean that even from the space of interconnectivity as humans. Why do we have all these nation-states when we all live on one interconnected planet, right? Like, I am a Star Trek girl over here. I wish we were already in like year 2100, right? And we're just like Team Earth, you know? Like, I, I just And especially what's happening in the world right now, it's really, really hard to see the levels of destruction and suffering that we create. We literally make up and create over this false premise that somehow land belongs to some of us and not all of us, when in truth we all belong to the Earth. The Earth has never belonged to us. We've always belonged to her. Yes. So this is a book about coming back to what's happening inside of you. Because when we're talking about raising consciousness on this planet, it doesn't start with everyone else. It starts inside each and every one of us and then ripples out. So this is that first drop of the pebble into the water. And then reading this book and going through this, that's the ripple that you're going to create outwards. Yes. This is the pebble falling in the water. And I just got that right now talking to you. I like it.

Oh, I got chills. Yeah, well, you—

I mean, I think talking with you, Tisha Morris, too, like, you work in so many natural metaphors with the work that you do that, like, even just sitting here talking with you, like, it came in for me with that beautiful, like, stone in the water. I've never had that metaphor when I described that. It was just with you. I'm like, oh, I like that, I'm using that.

What was the writing process like, um, when living at a time at the most critical time thus far in our known evolution. And you being such a sensitive to the natural world. I guess, I mean, it had to be, had to be hard writing this book. And I imagine you also got some really good information for to help others. So can you talk about your writing process?

Yeah, yeah, that's a really A really beautiful question. I think that if I had attempted to write this book a few years ago, I don't think I would have been able to, to be honest, because I think I was still so much in the throes of the eco-anxiety that I wouldn't have been able to be like, here, here are ways to move through this, right? Yeah. So I think it's first and foremost important to note how things sometimes work out divine timing-wise. Another thing that's really interesting about this book, and I'm assuming there's probably going to be other authors listening into this as well, This book kind of came to me. My publishing house, my editor approached me and said, we want to write a book on eco-anxiety and on helping people cope with it. And we've read some of your past work around this topic and we want you to be the person. So I didn't even actually have to write a book proposal for this.

Don't tell anybody that.

No, I did have to work on the outline. So I mean, like there was that, like, you know, me and my editor sat down and really fleshed out a big outline. But I feel really lucky that this book happened really quickly because of that, right? Because I kind of had assistance.

You're the one to bring this message through.

I think for me, what really— with a book that is a topic that is dense and kind of heavy like this one, the first thing that really helped was to sit down with my editor and get really, really clear on what is the intention of this book. Like, so as I mentioned earlier, this isn't a book about solving the climate catastrophe. This is a book about helping people feel better about what we're facing, right? So having that clarity of that intention was so important so that I also knew when I was doing research and feeling into it, this isn't the book to go deep, deep, deep into the science behind why everything sucks. You know what I mean? Like, because that's not going to ultimately— I just have to get people the ladder to climb back up out of there, right? Yeah. This is a book about the fact that we have so many possibilities in front of us already. There's so many accessible things we can do right here, right now. And people are already doing it. So that really helped me because it also helped me look for solutions as I was doing the research to write this book. I wasn't looking for the problems. The problems are all there right in front of us. I was looking for what are the solutions. Yeah, so that really helped. I think for me also getting really clear, especially with 52 self-care practices, I had to get really clear on how do I want to— this is kind of the, the yang with the yin, right? Like the yin is like 52 self-care practices, go, right? And then my yang was like, I I need some kind of system to organize this, make it make sense in my own head, so I'm not just like flowing all over the place. So for me, I was thinking, okay, how do we want to give people this trajectory into this place of self-care that's giving back to Earth, but not from a place of shame or blame or guilt or fear? So I was like, oh, here's what we have to do. We start with just connective self-care practices. Practices, self-care practices that just remind us that nature is all around us, totally accessible, loving us in every moment. And even though things are really bad, things are also still really good, and you just have to look and you can find it. So those are the first, like, 18 practices, or just connecting with the nature that's all around you. And I share information about, like, mycelium network and a guided meditation for connecting in with the mycelium network. I share about the mother trees, which— oh my God, I could talk for hours about mother trees. Like, I could so geek out on that. Anyway, so like A Guided Meditation for Mother Trees, I— the first few practices in the book are all about just regulating the nervous system and some somatic practices for moving through fight and flight and freeze and fawn, because ultimately eco-anxiety is a nervous system issue. And we can't move into the solutions when we are completely frazzled within our nervous system. So even just starting with our own nervous system and recognizing ourselves as part of nature. Then the following 18 practices are the second part, that part that was so beneficial for me when I was dealing with so much anxiety, which was getting creative, actually starting to create with nature, from art projects to cooking, making teas, tinctures, planting gardens. All of that is creativity and co-creation with nature. Then once we're already in a place where we feel connected, we feel creative, we feel that flow of relationship and love and even communication happening between ourselves and the natural world, then we move into self-care practices that are also reciprocal, that are also really giving back to Earth in return. Now, many of the practices I share in connection and co-creation do give back to Earth as well, but the ones at the tail end of the book are ones that are like composting, creating wildflower wildflower seed bombs, even breathwork, going outside and intentionally breathing with plants gives to us, but it also gives to Earth too, because the plants breathe in our exhales as we breathe in their exhales. Right. So for me, it was really about flowing through practices that helped us build on this relationship that we're always meant to have, which is a relationship with the natural world, which is also a relationship with ourselves because we are nature too. Does that answer your question or do you want me to get more into the nitty-gritty?

That was amazing. Yes. That was amazing.

Yeah. Because I can talk about like, I would do this many practices per week and I would work this many hours per day, but I don't know how deep you want me to get into it.

Well, my, the take, the, the main takeaway I, I heard, or for myself, everyone will hear something different, but, um, it's, it reminds me of, of what they say of like writing a memoir. You can't, you can't be in it. You have to be on the other side of it. Yes. And that's— yes. Yeah. That's why the timing of this book had to be what it is.

And I actually want to speak to that a little bit because, for example, you know, the wildfires that happened in Maui last August. I was actually— I had just turned in my first draft of that book when, when those wildfires hit. And I have to say, those wildfires hit me really, really hard. Um, I have a very, very close relationship with Hawaii, with the islands, um, obviously with Earth itself. But I think there was also kind of being on the other side of like, I just finished writing the book and it was submitted, and then here's this big huge example of how frightening life is with this climate change, how frightening what we're doing to the Earth is. Is, right? And, and how grief-stricken we are and how just awful it feels. And because it's almost was like, because I had already finished that book, I kind of felt like I was like back in it for a moment.

Yeah.

But it also allowed me to go to some of the self-care practices. And so, for example, I actually went to a self-care practice that was a somatic practice for letting myself really grieve, really feel the grief, and not try and press it, not try and ignore it, but literally just sit there and cry and wail and let it move through me. And that actually is very beneficial for us to let ourselves feel what we need to feel, to stay authentic with our relationship with nature and with ourselves.

Feel? What do you mean? What's that? Feel? No, I just want to buy something new.

What is Netflix showing now? Exactly. And the truth is, is that, you know, there's certain levels of distraction and escapism that can actually be quite adaptive. There's definitely levels of it that can be quite maladaptive, but at certain points in time, it is okay for us to escape, to find a place to just— and for me lately, I'm going to embarrass myself a little bit, but for me lately, it's been It's been fantasy romance.

You're not the first person I've heard say that recently.

No, it's, it's very like, it's, it's in the collective, and I understand why. As long as we bring some of what we love from that world, the creativity of humans, right? Like our ability to envision a different way. As long as we bring that back out into our actual physical worlds, right? Like, I think there's a lot we can gain from it, actually.

Uh, so we talked about the ecosystems and finding harmony, and nature seeks harmony. Let's talk about your inner ecosystem with, with writing. And how do you find a balance between writing a book that you have a contract for, getting ready to have a contract for, um, clients, your, your other, your, you know, day-to-day work, and family? How do you find, find harmony with those components?

Oh, this is a beautiful question. For some who are, who are listening or watching, I'm gonna apologize because, um, maybe you're not gonna like my answer. I write at night. Literally, I write late at night. Everyone else in my family goes to bed by like 9 or 9:30, and I'm all like, writing time! I just find that I do my best writing when it's quiet, when I'm not distracted by emails I have to answer or another appointment I have to get to, or writing and then I only have 20 minutes because I gotta go pick up the kids. And, you know, just like the day, we often get a little disjointed. I felt— I always feel like if I just give myself time to flow with writing at night, then even if I only have 40 minutes, it feels like I'm more focused. 40 minutes. So for me, that's what works, is I tend to kind of have nighttime. And I'm a crazy person who will write from like 9 to midnight. I'm still that person. So yeah, that, that really works for me. Now sometimes, like, if I knew that— at the time when I was writing this book, my husband would sometimes take the girls camping for the weekend for this like dad-daughter camping thing, and I would be like, woohoo, because I'd have like the whole weekend to even get more writing in. But I think it's also really important— what, what I find helps me as a writer, um, is kind of like the slow, sustainable work on the book. So for me, what helps is like touching the book every day Some days it might be 2 hours and other days it might be 20 minutes. But as long as I feel like I'm touching it every day, even if it's just a sentence versus like a whole paragraph, that always really helps me. I also find the books that I write tend to be less chapter-focused and more like practice-oriented, whether it's like a self-care practice or, you know, about one specific plant. So I would give myself like every week I'd have to get 5 practices done. So it's like one practice per day of the week, right? And so I gave myself a bit of a schedule to stay accountable to myself. I know a lot of people who are writers actually do well, like, to procrastinate to the last minute and then like write it all really quick. I am a terrible writer like that. Like, that is— I just go into complete analysis paralysis if I have that kind of time crunch. I am a slow more flowy and then method— what's the word I'm looking for? Methodical. Methodical, yes. Writer. So I need to give myself time when I write, and I find that if I look at the, the size of the project I'm creating and kind of break it down into when do I have to have it due, okay, how much do I have to get done per week to be done by this point, and give myself 3 weeks to like edit before I turn it in, right? So I kind of do a little bit of that um, reverse engineering. Yep. So that I then— I'm like, okay, here's the rate I have to write at to get this done when I want to have it done. And that's worked really well for me. Yeah. But again, you need to have that intrinsic motivation, and you need to know how you best write. I know that I best write with spaciousness and like time. Yeah. But some people write best on a deadline, and that's okay, you know, like work with the energies that flow for you.

Say more about the intrinsic motivation.

Ah, yeah, okay. So with intrinsic motivation, it's like that fire that's inside that just like, it just keeps you going. So I, anytime anyone's like, I self-published, I'm like, oh, that's intrinsic motivation, you go, right? Because there are so many pieces to publishing anything that could stop you at any point if you didn't actually have that fire inside. And I'm gonna be honest, I don't think I would be very good at self-publishing. I mean, the idea would be the fire, but all the little pieces, I wouldn't like it, right? Right. But some people are fantastic at it, about it. For me, having a publishing house gives me a little bit more of external motivation that pairs with my intrinsic motivation to share this message, to share this story, right? But then I have people I'm accountable for, which keeps me on track. So I need a little bit of both for certain things, although I definitely— like, for example, my moon blogs, things like that, things I'm committed to that are completely intrinsically motivated. I do it at my moon blogs, which is, um, something I share on my website. I share the energies of every new moon and full moon, which is a blog twice a month, every single month, right? I do a video with it too.

And, and again, the planets and stars and moons keep on rotating. Yeah, everything keeps going.

Everything keeps moving. They don't go on vacation. There have definitely been moments where I'm like, why am I doing that? Because it takes me like a week to write one of those because I'm feeling into the energies and I'm researching. And I, as I mentioned, I'm not a fast writer. I, I write kind of slow, you know. And there are moments where I'm like, why am I doing this? Like, nobody pays me for this. Like, and then I'm like, I'm doing it because I like knowing it. Like, I literally like knowing what the energy is because then I can move with it more. I like, I have this intrinsic motivation that even when I get tired, I'm like, eh, I still want to do it.

Well, speaking of, so you can find, find her moon blog at her website, ourinfinite nature.co, and sign up for her newsletter to get those in your email box twice a month. Twice a month. Okay. I wanted to go back to your writing process, or I wanted to— you're a great example that I want to kind of showcase to other writers to show that you don't have to quit your job. You know, you have to like do something. You can keep on doing what you're doing and fit in writing a book on the, on the side, or, you know, can take the front burner or back burner depending on what stage of it you're in. But these worlds can, can coexist.

I honestly think they're meant to, you know, like I'm even— okay, I'm a little ridiculous. Cancer is a cardinal energy, so we tend to like to start things, right? So as soon as I like launch a book, I'm like, okay, I'm thinking about my next book. Oh yeah, like I'm already thinking about my next book, even though there's— my body's like, chill, like slow your roll. But what's really cool is that my next book is coming from the work I'm doing with my clients, right? Like, I can feel how my work is totally creating what this next book is going to be. So I really feel like— yeah, and I mean, listen, there are some authors, especially authors of fiction, or where that is your full thing. But like, the kind of writing I do, which is a little bit more self-development, a little bit more nonfiction, I'm gonna pull from what my daily experiences are, what the experiences of those I work with are to bring that forward into a book so that it can feed more people, right? Nourish more people. Yeah.

They, they feed each other just like the seed and the plant. Yeah, exactly. Well, Raquel, this feels like the most important conversation I've like had in a really, really long time. Um, and just how we need to be tapped into nature. Um, even more than if, even if, I mean, I feel like I'm pretty tapped into nature. I go to the, like, I'm because I'm lucky of where I live. And yet still, I did finally get a real plant for my office, a nice fig tree over there. Yeah. Happy, very happy looking. Yeah. And then we incorporated some more plants into our home. But just having this conversation, it's really hitting home just how important it is to connect on a daily basis.

Yeah, well, I, I was actually, um, really inspired by some of your work, your books with feng shui, because yeah, I think when we think about bringing nature into our homes, you know, we could think about plants and a lot like that, but what you share in your books is how we can use lots of different decor items to bring in the elements, right? Like, you know, we can use stones and baskets and different textiles to bring in the elements of earth, right? We can use mirrors and glass to bring in the elements of water. We can use triangles and candles to bring in fire, right? And I learned a lot from your books around that.

Yeah, the symbolic representations of these natural—

and I think, I actually think one of the self-care practices is, is, um, inspired by that. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. I have in the, in the Create with Nature, I have like a few self-care practices that are all around biophilic design and like bringing more nature into your style. And I think I share some of that, like the feng shui.

I cannot wait for the world to, uh, have this book in their hands and, um, and to have more— to really viewing, viewing self-care from a new lens, I think is going to be so, so helpful for all of us. Um, tell everyone how they can, um, get in contact with you.

Oh, thank you so much, Tisha. Well, you can find me and all the things I share about on my website, ourinfinite nature.co. Um, you can find my books, uh, Everyday Plant Magic and Self-Care for Eco-Anxiety, pretty much wherever books are sold. Um, and you can also find these if you guys like signed copy of books, like autographed copies. I always have some of those available on my website as well. Self-Care for Eco-Anxiety launches April 9th, which I believe this is coming out right around then, so it'll be available for sale. Um, oh, you can also find them at certain— like, if you like to go to bookstores, my publishing house loves getting these books into like gift stores.

And yeah, I see them all the time. I'm so happy.

It's like, oh my gosh, there it is! It makes me so happy. I'm actually really happy because there's this really awesome metaphysical store down the street from me, and they're like super excited to carry both both of these books, and I'm going to do an event with them. So really looking forward to that. So you can check out some of your local bookstores. If you want your local bookstores to carry them, please ask, because that— I mean, as an author, when we have people asking for our books, oh my gosh, that feels amazing. So yes, you can always ask as well. You can also find me on socials. I'm most active on Instagram. You can find me at @ourinfinitenatureraquel. You can find me there on YouTube where I share a little bit about the moon energies, and I am on TikTok as well, also under Our Infinite Nature Raquel. I am not active on Facebook, so I— if you talk to me there, I probably won't talk back. So come talk to me on Instagram.

Yeah, Instagram is the best place. And, uh, yeah, you have some great, great posts all the time. And, um, make sure you follow her so you're up to date on any events you have and any of your, um, your service offerings as well. Um, thank you so much for, for being my guest. Um, I, I ever take it for granted. Um, your work is so amazing and, um, in such a gift to, to the planet.

Oh, Tisha, thank you so much. I gratefully, gratefully receive that. And I just want to thank you because I feel like you came into my life at a moment where I was like really just kind of treading water, and I found you through our, like, one of our mutuals, Marie Many Cherries' show. And I just love the way you were describing your books, feng shui, about how you work with authors. And as soon as we started working together, like, things shifted so much for me in terms of writing and books in general. And I'm just, I'm so grateful for you. And I've been part of your writing groups, and it's just really helped me so much as a writer. So I'm just, I'm so grateful for you. And I'm so happy that you've got this podcast now because you have You have so much knowledge to share with everyone, so much expertise, and this is just another wonderful way for you to help people share their important messages with the world. So yeah, so grateful.

Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. If you like the podcast, please like, subscribe, maybe even share to your friends. And for more information about my services, visit my website at tishamorris.com. That's T-I-S-H-A M-O-R-R-I-S. Well, that concludes today's episode, and I wish you all the best. Until next time, keep creating and please take care.