Episode 7: Healing Through Writing with Elizabeth Krause

Welcome back to Alchemy for Authors!

In this episode I talk with the wonderful podcaster and author-to-be, Elizabeth Krause. Elizabeth shares with us her take on the healing power of writing, specifically, using journaling to help heal traumas and resistance and move us towards being happier and healthier versions of ourselves. She also talks about the importance of finding ways to share our voice with the world, and what it’s like starting out on her journey of writing her first book.

To find out more about Elizabeth, or to connect with her, follow her on Instagram: @iamelizabethkrause.

Learn more about the Write to Feel Collective here: https://writetofeel.com/

Listen to The Feeling to Healing Podcast here.

Get your FREE copy of her Creativity Meditation here.

Listen to Elizabeth interview Jo here.

And if you enjoyed this episode please rate, review and subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Follow me on Instagram: @jobuerauthor

Join the Alchemy for Authors Facebook Group here.

Find the full transcript of this episode below.

Episode 7: Healing Through Writing with Elizabeth Krause – Transcript

Jo: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Alchemy for Authors. I have a bit of a different episode for you today. I planned to do a solo episode, but life got in the way, as it sometimes does. So today I’ll be sharing my chat with the wonderful podcaster and author to be Elizabeth Krause. So my intention has always been that Alchemy for Authors embraces all sorts of writers. And you’ll already be noticing that in many of the episodes I talk about mindset, and I really do believe that having a healthy mindset is key to us succeeding in and creating writing lives full of abundance that we love. And so in this episode, Elizabeth talks a lot about the healing power of writing, most specifically using journaling to help heal traumas and resistance to move us towards being happier and healthier versions of ourselves. She talks about the importance of finding our ways to share our voice with the world and what it’s like starting out on her journey of writing her first book. So I think we’ll all find something to take away from this amazing talk. So when you’re ready, grab a drink, find a comfy chair, sit back and enjoy the show.

Hello, my lovelies, and welcome back to the show. Today I have a truly amazing guest for you, she’s all sorts of inspiring and I’m so super excited to introduce you to the wonderful Elizabeth Krause. Elizabeth is the founder of WritetoFeel.com and an author in the making. Write to Feel was born to help women release trauma while unlocking their truth and returning to who they were always meant to be. She is also the founder of the Write to Feel Collective, a safe community for women who desire to write and collaborate with other women to grow together on their spiritual journey. Elizabeth is also the host of the Feeling to Healing Podcast, a podcast to help inspire other women about the importance of doing the inner soul hard stuff, leading to a more joyful and fulfilled life. When she is not a host or a guest, she loves working with women to help them build their own podcast so their voice and inner wisdom can be shared with the world. Elizabeth was born and raised in Indiana. She is married and has two little ones 15 months apart and is just loving life. So thank you so much, Elizabeth, for being here today.

Elizabeth: Thank you for having me, Jo. I am so excited to connect with you.

Jo: Me too. Me too. Just for the listeners out there, Elizabeth and I kind of connected through social media. So, yay for socials. And I think we just kind of hit it off. We’ve chatted on your wonderful podcast, too, just about the incredible healing power of writing. And I am hoping we can kind of explore that a little bit more today. But first, I would love if you could just tell everybody just a little bit more about yourself and what’s kind of brought you here into the world of writing and helping other women.

Elizabeth: Well, thank you for that introduction, Jo. So writing has really always been a part of my life. And what’s funny is that I never realized that writing was a true foundation of my healing journey until I stepped outside of it. I was starting on my entrepreneurship path in 2018. I didn’t want to be in corporate anymore. I was going through this reawakening of who am I, what do I want to do with my life? And I’ve done a lot of different things. I’ve dipped my toes in a lot of different things. When it comes to health and wellness, I knew that that was something that I always love to talk about health and wellness in general. But I realized that I didn’t want to be a health coach, and giving diet plans to women that just didn’t light me up. And so I remember having this breakdown on the couch one night towards the end of last year, and my husband asked me, he goes, Elizabeth, what is it that you truly want to do? And I was like, I just want to write. And that was it. And it clicked. That writing has really been a foundation in my life. When I’ve been going through things as a child. I lost my father at a very young age when I was 15. My brother was addicted to some really hard drugs when I was a teenager, too. So my brother was nowhere around, and I’d been through some pretty unhealthy relationships. I had a pretty abusive marriage that I’m no longer in now. It’s been several, several years since then. And so I realized basically that writing has really been the foundation through all of that. It’s a place where I could go and just release anything that was on my mind, and I would be able to find patterns and uncover things, not only with just writing, but I was also surrounding myself with women who had maybe gone through similar things, and they just kind of melded together years later. I knew I’ve always wanted to work with women in some form, and I’ve also done a lot of the healing work, and it’s been through writing. And so one day I just had this like, wow, I want to really introduce to women the power of writing and how much of a healing modality that it can be. And so I started my podcast, too, in the midst of building my Write to Feel collective. And the podcast has really been something that’s been inspiring for me, too. And it’s really cathartic because we’re always on this healing journey. And I realized, wow, I really want to help women just use their voices because that can be so healing in itself. And I’m currently going on another healing journey. I’m doing a lot of deep work currently, and so I’ve been sharing some of that on my podcast. I’m like that’s something that the world needs. I want to be able to show women that they can show up vulnerably because we never know who we are impacting. And instead of holding it all in until we’re, quote, unquote all through our human journey or certain parts of it, bringing people along with us just makes for a closer connection. So that is really what the Write to Feel brand is about, my writing. I started my book. You’d be really proud of me.

Jo: Yay!

Elizabeth: And then women have been coming to me for help with their podcast because they have a message that they want to share to other women. And so I’ve been using the things that I love about editing and all of those things because I’m a very musical person. And so I’ve been finding editing also very cathartic for me because it’s relaxing. It’s like adult colouring for me. It’s been so fun. So it’s just I’ve had to let go. I’ve just let go. And I’ve released so many expectations of what does it have to look like? A to B, B to C, C to D, because I’ve tried that and it doesn’t work. It doesn’t work at all. And you feel lost when you try to really feel so much pressure on. Where do I want to go with my life, whether you want to have a business or not? What do you want to do in your life? What inspires you? What lights you up? What brings you joy? Putting so much pressure on ourselves when we kind of just let that go. That playfulness just automatically comes into our life and all the creative abilities that we have because we’re all creative beings.

Jo: Oh, gosh, I love that. You have just said so much. I have so many questions now. That is so cool. The power of voice, whether it’s through or sharing your voice, whether it’s through podcasting or writing, there is something to be said for how empowering that really is. You have been through a lot. Thank you for sharing that. It’s really eye opening, particularly just in the few times that I’ve kind of met you through Zoom and chatting with you, and that my experience of you – you’re so bubbly and optimistic and supportive of other people – and to have gone through what you’ve gone through and to come out the other side, being such a warm person like this means that you’ve obviously you’ve done the hard work like you were saying, you’ve built on working through that trauma and that. So when you are using writing as a bit of a tool for that process, was it intentional or was it just keeping a bit of a diary or a journal or how did you go about that?

Elizabeth: I think partly it’s because I felt really alone, even though I was I’m really close to my mom. I would talk to my mom and I would talk to my friends, but it was a place where I could go. It was just me. And it almost became this sort of channeled writing for what I was going through. I just allowed myself to receive whatever I was feeling. Sometimes we feel like we have to come to our journal and we’re like Dear Diary, I love so those things, they’re great. But the journaling is not always pretty. And I allowed myself to really have that be a place where I could open up and it was mine. And the reason why. Now, looking back and thinking about how the Write to Feel Collective happened, I don’t want other women to feel like they are alone in this process. So it’s a place where women can feel this safety, to show up in anger, show up upset if they’re having a bad day, talking through writing what they have been going through in a non-judgmental place. And granted, it’s still great to have the pen to paper, but it’s another place for women who are on maybe the same path or maybe a woman has been where you are and you can kind of talk to each other and look to each other for guidance. Just a place where you don’t feel alone. But going back to the journaling, it’s just a place that was mine, and nobody was judging me for it. I could write whatever I wanted, and it was mine. It was my little haven.

Jo: That’s amazing. I’ve used writing like journaling and that in similar ways in the past for myself as well, and just find it so cathartic, really, to get all those emotions out on the page without judgment or people necessarily trying to solve your problems for you, which you might get if you’re expressing the same things to a friend or family member or something. It’s like you were saying, that really safe place. I’m wondering, just out of curiosity, when you are doing that and you’re getting all your kind of feelings and emotions and everything out on the page, were there ever times where you kind of got that sense of clarity, almost like your higher self or something else was kind of coming through with some guidance for you?

Elizabeth: Absolutely. The great thing about writing is once you just start going, you can uncover things that you maybe never even knew were inside of you or you never even knew what you were feeling. So when you go back and you reread, it’s like, Whoa, I didn’t even know I was feeling that way. What is that about? Let me dive into that a little bit more and let me sit with that and think about where those thoughts may be coming from and how I can improve myself or work through something to not make my life so difficult, make it easier for me. It doesn’t mean that what we’re typically going through at that time isn’t difficult, but there is light on the other side. And just by being able to acknowledge that it’s basically coming from your subconscious. Yes, it really is. And sometimes I look at it and I’m like, wow, did I really write that? Sometimes it’s really cool. Where did that come from? And sometimes I’m like, wow, I didn’t know that I was suppressing that much anger. So it’s really its own enlightenment.

Jo: It’s so fascinating to me because I totally agree with you. It feels like it’s of ourselves. This kind of guidance that comes through is of ourselves, but it’s almost separate from ourselves or deeper than that surface level. So we really do tend to connect with just a higher part of ourselves, really, that is able to help us kind of move through those core emotions when we get past. I’m so angry at this for happening. And the woe is me and all that kind of stuff that the real gems start to come out after that. It’s that real kind of self help really, isn’t it?

Elizabeth: Without realizing that it is your own self help journey, you’re really looking inside of yourself. You know that quote that people say, look inside of yourself for the answers? That literally is looking inside of yourself for answers. And it may take a little while. Something may come to you right away, and it may take a little while, but the whole process is really beautiful. And it’s just a matter of having patience with yourself and knowing that every single word that came out on that page was meant to be out of your physical body for a reason.

Jo: That’s just so cool. I love that. And so when you’re doing your journaling, do you do it by hand? Are you, like pen to paper or are you typing or how are you going about it?

Elizabeth: Yeah. So I’m both. So when I have the time, when my children, when I’m not Momming, right, or wife, and I try to set some time for myself to really be present and calm, and I sit in meditation for a little while, and I just allow things to come through me. I find that pen to paper is really healing. And sometimes I’ll listen to I’ll just kind of ask myself, what music do I want to listen to? Do I even want to listen to music? Certain rhythms and beats and tempos will bring certain energies out of my body to where I’ll just start channeling and it’ll all come out. And I just trust that that’s what needs to happen. Sometimes it’s very little that downloads for me in journaling. Sometimes it’s pages and pages and pages. Other times I want to be a part. Clearly, I’m growing a collective, and so I don’t want to just sit there and talk about it. I take a lot of things from the journals that I’ve written, and I’ll just write them. I’ll type them out in that collective to just kind of share what I’m going through. And maybe a woman in the collective has been going through some similar things, and it’s just another way for us to connect. So I do a mixture of both.

Jo: That’s so powerful. That’s really cool. Now, because Alchemy for Authors, this podcast deals a lot with mindset, I talk a lot about mindset because I think it’s just so important for every creative pursuit. And you are a very creative person. You have a lot of things going on at the moment. You’ve got this wonderful Write to Feel Collective. You’ve got your podcast, which I think you’ve kind of rebooted recently into the Feeling to Healing, am I right?

Elizabeth: It’s just recently rebooted. I had it for a little while. It was another title, but then I transitioned it over to be more in alignment with the things that I really wanted to talk about it. And I don’t just talk about writing on the podcast just as the one thing mindset. It goes so much deeper than that. But that’s the overall encompassing. It’s just really expressing yourself and healing yourself and different guests to bring out different fun things to talk about. And some are really fun and some are really serious. And it’s just a mixture of a bunch of different things all geared for women, but anybody can listen to it, but it’s mostly for women.

Jo: That’s so fun. So you’ve got all these wonderful things on the go, and you mentioned, and I’ll get into it a little bit more asking about this book that you’re writing as well, but I know when it comes to writing or any creative endeavor like starting a podcast or a collective or anything like that, quite often at the beginning we can really be met with resistance, which is all those kind of self-doubts that we have, any trauma that we have. And all those things that we tend to forget about comes bubbling to the surface when we move into being a beginner or anything or putting ourselves out there. You’ve been doing all these wonderful things. How have you moved through that process? Have you come up against any resistance or self-doubt or anything like that?

Elizabeth: Absolutely. I feel like I have some type of resistance or self-doubt every day. But I always have to come back to the question, this life is only one life that I have, and I don’t want to look back at the end of my life. Who knows? I could be gone tomorrow. We all could be gone tomorrow. We never know. I don’t want to look back and say, I wish I would have done this. I wish I would have done this. My heart really wants to do this, but I was too afraid to even begin the process or take the steps to do that. Of course, I have resistance. To be honest. My collective is very new. I have only a handful of women in there. I’m wanting to really bring in at least 25 women to be the founders, because the thing about this collective, too, is I don’t want to do it alone. I want to be able to have these 25 women really talk to me and tell me the things that they want to see or things that they want more of. Like, for example, I have a Wine and Write Night that’s bi weekly right now where we meet for an hour, and whatever comes through for me, we discuss, we write, we listen to music. It’s really fun. And I’m getting ideas from them, and I’m asking them questions when I have these ideas of, oh, would you like to see this and this and this. So it’s in the beginning, it’s a baby stages of growing. But I’ve already told myself once I hit those 25 founding members, my prices are going to raise. It’s at the minimum right now. I’m promising myself that because I know that the value that I’m going to be adding is going to be out of this world, and those 25 women will be locked into that original price for the remainder of time. So my visions for it are. But yeah, I come up with that resistance for sure, especially in the baby stages. But I have to come back to why am I doing this in the first place? Oh, yeah. It’s that community building. Women need community. We’re not meant to do things alone. And I want to really have that safe container for women to really fully express and let their walls down and be able to be supported in so many ways. So I come up with that resistance, but the vision is so much bigger. So it’s just snapping myself back and remembering, oh, yeah, Elizabeth, don’t stop. Don’t quit. You’re in alignment. You’re in alignment. You know, this feels good.

Jo: I love that. There are two kinds of things that really jumped out at me that I think is just great advice for anybody, really. It’s that finding your why, like, why is this important to me? And so for those days when that resistance really rises up, you need a really strong why, a reason that is kind of bigger than just yourself, so that you can kind of continue and push through those self-doubts, which I think is so fantastic. And then you also said something about this is our one life. Like, we don’t know when it’s going to end. And I very much subscribe to that. It’s one of the reasons that I kind of write Gothic fiction in that because that reminder that death is always actually around the corner and it’s not meant to be morbid. If anything, it should be the kick in the pants that we need to really just step through that fear and that resistance.

Elizabeth: Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like we get these reminders all the time. I don’t know. So I grew up watching Full House and Bob Saget was just 65 years old. That was a big one. For me. I grew up watching this show, and I’m like, wow, he just did a show the night before. And it’s just that reminder. It’s that reminder for us living now. Hey, guess what? We’re not invincible. Whether we like it or not, we’re not. So what are we going to do about it right now? Are we going to hold off doing the things that we’ve always wanted to do? Just start.

Jo: That is so motivating. And I think doing what you’re doing as well, where you’re seeking other women to kind of bring together so that you’re almost like a support network as well. So you’re helping guide these women in your collective, but in a way, they’re also helping you. They’re giving you that accountability in that to make this a reality.

Elizabeth: Absolutely.

Jo: That’s so wise.

Elizabeth: Thank you. It’s been really fun. It’s been really fun. And I’m still growing. I’m learning a lot about myself, but I can take that to my collective. I can put myself while I’m on this healing journey. And it’s all good. The whole healing journey, it’s for our benefit. Everything that we go through is for our benefit, and the death of my father, I wouldn’t be this person, this goes for anybody listening, you wouldn’t be the person that you are today if those things in your life that have happened to you never happened. You wouldn’t be the person you are today. So it’s reframing our mind, and looking at those things as we don’t understand them, but reframing our mind that they are a gift. So that’s how I reframe it. And I don’t know how it got to be that way. It was just all that work that I did at the very beginning when things happen. And it was a long journey for that specific part of my life. But it’s been beautiful and a beautiful unfolding. And I wouldn’t change anything. I wouldn’t change it.

Jo: And that’s just so powerful and so beautiful. And you walk your talk, and I know that because with the bio that you kind of sent through to me, you ended up with you’re just loving life, and it really just comes through just chatting with you, despite everything that you’ve gone through.

Elizabeth: Yeah.

Jo: You look like you’re loving life.

Elizabeth: I appreciate that very much. This is very true. I do. Life is a gift. It really is. We’re all here. We’re here for a reason. We really are.

Jo: That’s awesome. So I really want to talk to you also about the fact that you are an author in the making. So what does that mean? Can you tell me what that means?

Elizabeth: Well, you actually inspired me to start talking that way because I’ve known in my life since I was little that I always wanted to write a book. I was always making up little short stories all the time. I apologize if you can hear my little children in the background. They’re home today. So I was always making up little stories as a kid, and I always knew that I wanted to be an author. When I went to College, I changed my major, like five times. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. School was never my thing, but one of them was journalism. And I realized I didn’t want to do that because I didn’t want to be told what to write. So I don’t know, I changed again. But you are the one who really helped me step into that and help me realize, yeah, start calling yourself an author. You’re an author. See it, believe it, feel it. All those things. And so I’m doing it. It’s been really fun. I’m going to continue to work on what I’ve done. Jo, I actually just started writing my book just last week. Started flowing through me.

Jo: I’m so excited for you. Oh, my gosh, that is so cool. How did it feel right at the beginning? Stepping into calling yourself an author?

Elizabeth: Scary. Yeah, it really did. But exciting at the same time because I’m like, Whoa, now I’m accountable for this. I’ve said it. I let it out into the universe, and so let’s do it. I don’t know what the book was going to be about, but I’m getting downloads. It’s been a really exciting journey, and I’m really going into it. Not putting so much pressure on myself for it to be perfect. I just want to put my heart into it because I really want and I feel like the readers will know that my heart is into it, and I’m not trying to be someone I’m not. That’s the last thing that I want to portray. So I’m just letting it flow through me and not to force anything ready to be there.

Jo: I just love all of that. Everything that you’re doing is so key to when people talk about the Law of Attraction or manifestation, it’s claiming that title. So you’re claiming that title or who you are as an author, even though it may not have fully manifested in your life. You’re already claiming that somewhere it is. It’s a real thing. And I really do believe that we’re not given these bursts of inspiration, these passions and these things without a reason and a purpose and ability to actually make them a reality. So you have told the universe that this is a reality. This is who you are. And then letting go and just letting it be, letting the words just come out and be authentically yours without getting I think so many people who are starting the author journey get so tied up, and it has to be perfect and all of that, and that doesn’t work, that gets us really tied up in resistance. So the fact that you can just open yourself up to that flow of the words coming through and just know that it is authentically yours, I think, is just amazing. That is so wonderful.

Elizabeth: Thank you. I even felt myself. It’s funny. When I started, I was, like, in the group, I was in the flow, I was just typing away, and everything was just coming out. And then I felt myself started to slow down, and I’m just witnessing myself. Okay, Elizabeth, it’s time to stop. You’re really starting to force this. You don’t want to do that. So it’s okay. Let’s close it. Close it right now and come back to it when things are starting to, when that juice is up and you’re ready to flow again. So, yeah, I was almost like, witnessing outside of myself what I was doing.

Jo: That is so wonderful. And I’m so excited for you because I haven’t come across anything that is comparable to writing a book. It really is such a huge endeavor, and it takes a lot from us and a lot of dedication and a lot of quite often that resistance and those traumas and those things that we think we’ve healed can sometimes come back just to shake us up. It’s when we’ve really got to kind of prove to ourselves, prove to the universe that, yes, we are committed. This is what we want. We’re going to follow through. So, yeah, for you doing that, that’s just so exciting.

Elizabeth: I’m so excited. And I really feel like you being brought into my world helped me step into that. Really. It’s been there, but it’s just like the conversation that we have, like, okay, I’m doing it. Calling myself an author.

Jo: That is so wonderful. But I think there is something to be said for that synchronicity, too. Like, we are drawn to those people that can help us in those moments of life when we need just a little bit of a boost in everything. I do believe that every person that crosses our paths has a purpose. There’s a reason that they cross our paths, and we all bring something for good or bad to each other’s life and everything.

Elizabeth: Absolutely. And just piggybacking off something you said, good or bad, even if it doesn’t feel so good, it’s still there to teach us a lesson of some sort, maybe within ourselves. So every experience and every person that comes into our life was meant to be for us. And so just, again, shifting that perspective can open up a whole new world for you.

Jo: So wonderful. Now you can totally say no to this, but are you able to share a little bit about what your book is about? If you’re not comfortable? Because sometimes we want to hold these babies close to us at the beginning, that’s fine.

Elizabeth: So I can say that I’m kind of taking the reader on my healing journey in the present moment instead of waiting till I’m finished. And now I’m going to be writing about what happened. I’m taking the reader with me so they can witness what’s happening while I’m going through certain things. So they don’t necessarily feel like they might be alone in something that it’s just like a human connection that I’m wanting. So it’s like a book in real time, really.

Jo: I love that. I love that. And I would think in some ways it might make it a little bit easier to write because everything you’re feeling is in real time. So those emotions are real time. And I think it’s going to be very eye opening for you, too, when it’s finished and you’re looking back and you’re looking at it from a bit more of a removed kind of perspective because you’ve gone through it, all the books kind of come to an ending, and you will probably find things in there like you were saying before moments where it’s like, did I really write that? I don’t remember writing that. Oh, my gosh, that’s amazing. Or, Yeah, Wow.

Elizabeth: But even thinking about that, I want to be extremely aware that when I go back and read it, that if it’s something that I’m finished, like I’m finished with that little process in my life that I don’t remove that because it was important in the journey at the time. So I want that to be felt and read by the woman or person reading it.

Jo: Oh, wow. That’s magic. Well, I’m totally supporting you here with your book. I am so excited. Yeah. Any support you need, just reach out to me. But I am just so happy that you’re on this journey. It’s so exciting to me. And the fact that you’ve done so much mindset work and working through these things, I think you’re already off to a really good start and just keep claiming that title. You are an author. This book does exist. And yeah, it’s just bringing that reality in, our reality kind of together. That’s so exciting.

Elizabeth: I am an author.

Jo: Yes, you are. Do you have anything else planned in 2022 this year? You’ve got so much going on.

Elizabeth: My gosh, I’m really wanting to focus on the collective. I want to grow that I would love to have at least 25 members in there. By the end of this year, hopefully it will be more. But by the end of 2022, I really want to have 25 members, and I definitely want it to be something. I never want to push anything on anybody. I want the women to really, they don’t have to be writers, it could just be a creative outlet for them. If they want to get into writing, if they just want to be seen and heard, I want them to really, first of all, know that they are always welcome, but it has to feel good for them. They have to feel an alignment for it. It may not be for everyone. And that’s okay. So my plan is to focus on that also. My podcasting clients has been really fun. That’s taken off really quickly. It’s been very, very enjoyable. So just focusing on all of those things and just growing it all. More episodes. I’d love to have you back on my podcast.

Jo: I would love to come back anytime. Anytime. This is so fun. I love chatting with you.

Elizabeth: Yeah. Looking forward to this year. I really feel like after the last half or the last quarter really of 2021 was really where I started to see my vision and get my groove and really feel in alignment with everything that I was wanting to create. So now it’s just a matter of taking off with it.

Jo: That is awesome. I’ve talked to a lot of people actually who are feeling that way. A lot of people in my physical circle in that who are just feeling like after the last couple of tough years that I think everybody has kind of been through and are still going through, but the energy is starting to shift a little bit. There’s a little bit more optimism there. People just becoming more aware of who they are and what is important to them. I think people waking up to the fact that they’ve kind of pushed aside their passions and the things that really bring them alive and give them that spark are just starting to make changes in their life so that they can actually do more of those things.

Elizabeth: The world needs more of that because it’s just going to make for a happier world. More joy. Love all those things.

Jo: I agree. So just kind of wrapping up a little bit. Was there anything else that you really wanted to share with the listeners or your best life advice? I mean, you’ve already given us so many wonderful, wonderful things, like seeds to kind of take away with us today. But is there anything else that you want to talk about?

Elizabeth: I think the last thing that I just want to leave the listeners with is you are your own best teacher. The wisdom is inside of you, and it’s just a matter of getting quiet and shutting out the outside noise just to really uncover what it is that you truly want, because you only have one life on this physical world. And I know in your heart you want to make the best out of it. So it’s shutting everything out and listening to your heart, your soul, and that wisdom deep within because we all have that.

Jo: That is just so beautiful and so true and just speaks to everything that you are doing right now, which is so cool. So how can people connect with you? I’ll put it in the show notes as well. But just in case there are some of those wonderful people that are just right for your collective listening, how can they reach out to you?

Elizabeth: Yeah. So Instagram is my jam. I love Instagram so they can find me @iamelizabethkrause. I will respond to your DMs. Unlike other people say I’ll respond to you and they don’t. I will. You can reach out to me there. You can go to writetofeel.com. And if you want to find out more about the collective, you can just go to collective/writetofeel.com. And that will take you and tell you all about what the collective is about and if it’s the right fit for you. I also have a meditation that’s free that I channeled and downloaded, and I’ll let you put that in the show notes for anybody. It’s a meditation that came through for me to really open up and to spark more creativity in your life. If you’re feeling kind of a dullness or a lull or you’re not quite sure where to go. So I also have that as a free offering as well.

Jo: Okay. Well, I’m excited to try that myself, so that’s wonderful. I can’t wait for that.

Elizabeth: Yeah. My podcast. I have a podcast Feeling to Healing. You can find on iTunes, Spotify and all the major platforms.

Jo: And it’s so worth listening to, just putting it out there for everybody. Some amazing truths come out of that podcast. So that’s so great. Well, thank you so much for chatting with us and just sharing all these wonderful goodies with us today. And it’s just been so good reconnecting with you.

Elizabeth: Absolutely. Thank you again so much for having me. This has been so much fun.

Jo: Takeaways from today’s episode.

1. Share your voice. Share your story. Whether it’s through writing, podcasting or some other avenue, not only is it empowering for yourself, but you never know who you could be impacting.
2. Consider using journaling as a safe haven for healing. Get those feelings in all their ugliness down on paper. You’ll be surprised how cathartic it can be.
3. Be open to the things that come through when you’re journaling: moments of clarity or understanding or next steps to move forward in a positive way. It is the ultimate self-help tool.
4. When faced with resistance or self-doubt in any creative endeavor, move through by remembering you only have one life and you’re living it now. We all have an expiry date, so do that thing that lights you up now!
5. Remember your why. Make sure your vision for why you’re doing something is bigger than the fears that stop you from doing it.
6. Reframe the good and bad things that happen to you as gifts or lessons that have shaped you into the person you are today.
7. Life is a gift. We are all here for a reason.
8. To be an author call yourself an author. See it, believe it, claim it, and take action and make it so.
9. When starting a writing project, let the perfectionism go. Be authentically yourself, but move forward by just getting the words down on paper. Don’t force it.

So I hope you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you to either start your own journaling practice or take those first steps towards starting your own creative project. Remember to check out the show notes for ways to connect with Elizabeth or to become part of her Write to Feel Collective. You’ll also find a link to a free meditation to supercharge your creativity. And if you’ve enjoyed this show, please subscribe rate and review. This tells me that you want more of these amazing chats with authors and tips and tricks to supercharge your writing lives and careers.

So until next time, happy writing.