Ashlieya featured on MindDogTV’s Coffee With the Dog: Creativity, Confidence, and Self-Expression
Ashlieya on Coffee with the Dog by MindDog TV
Many of us assume that if we just keep creating—more art, more content, more projects—confidence will eventually catch up. Yet plenty of lifelong creatives still feel like imposters, even with decades of work behind them.
In a recent episode of MindDog TV, performing artist, writer, and nervous system educator Lieya shared a different way to think about confidence: not as a personality trait you either have or don’t, but as a set of skills rooted in your body, your mindset, and your creative process.
You can watch or listen to the full conversation here: original interview on YouTube (starting about 1:10:00).
Confidence as a Practice, Not a Personality
The host opens the conversation by confessing that after 65 years in the creative arts, he still feels like “the least confident person in the room” and an imposter who “just fooled them again” every time a show ends. He’s about to teach a watercolor class to students he believes are better than he is and is spiraling in comparison and self‑doubt.
Rather than reassuring him with vague positivity, Lieya zooms in on something very specific: the story he’s telling about himself.
“You’re identifying as the person who has no confidence,” she says. “You’ve got to give yourself a little more credit. You’re doing something a lot of people never have the courage to do at all.”
For her, confidence is built from principles, not vibes. One of the biggest is simply: know your stuff. If you’re genuinely prepared—if you know your material and why you’re there—you give your nervous system something solid to stand on, even if emotional jitters are still present.
But preparation alone isn’t enough if your self‑reflection is distorted. If every time you look back on your work you only list failures, you’re training your nervous system to expect shame instead of growth.
Comparison, Story, and the “Better Than Me” Trap
When the host admits he sees his older, more experienced watercolor students as “better than me, and maybe even better people than me,” Lieya calls that out as both common and deeply misleading.
She distinguishes between honest self‑reflection and toxic storytelling:
Honest reflection might sound like: “They’ve logged more hours in this medium than I have.”
Toxic storytelling sounds like: “Therefore I’m a fraud and a worse human being.”
Confidence requires room for self‑celebration, she argues. If you can’t look at anything you’ve done and say “That was brave” or “That was good,” you’re effectively blocking the very experiences that build confidence over time.
Clarity Starts in the Body
A central concept in Lieya’s work is clarity, which she defines not as a mental moment of inspiration but as a physiological and psychological state.
In her book Introduction to Nervous System Mastery, she describes clarity as a state where the nervous system is regulated enough to interpret internal sensations and external events without distortion from stress, fear, or urgency.
On the show, she explains it like this:
Your brain can only think clearly if your body isn’t stuck in fight‑or‑flight.
Anxiety, exhaustion, and chronic tension all narrow your perception and judgment.
A regulated nervous system lets you see what’s actually in front of you instead of just what you fear.
That’s why, when asked whether body or mind comes first, she answers: physiology first. We often try to “think” our way into calm; she reverses that: regulate the nervous system and the mind becomes far more accurate and creative.
From Saber‑Toothed Tigers to Rude Baristas
One of the most relatable parts of the conversation is Lieya’s description of how our bodies misread threat.
“Our bodies are still wired like our ancestors,” she says. We physiologically react to a rude barista, a car cutting us off, or a snarky comment about our shoes with the same survival circuitry we’d use for a genuine life‑threatening situation.
That mismatch fuels reactivity, burnout, and chronic self‑protection. Her nervous system work helps people relearn the difference between:
Real danger, where a fight‑or‑flight response is appropriate, and
Emotional discomfort, where what’s needed is a skillful, regulated response, not a full‑body alarm.
Creativity as a Channel for Difficult Emotions
Rather than “fixing” anger, self‑doubt, or grief, Lieya encourages channeling them into creative work.
“Passion is a beautiful driver for action,” she notes, “as long as you’re not taking action with malicious intent.” Art, writing, movement, comedy, and music become containers where intense emotions can move through you instead of calcifying inside you.
She emphasizes three elements:
Intention – Decide to pour what you’re feeling into the work.
Attention – Stay present with the making, not just looping the story.
Containment – Let the emotion move through the process, then let it go.
Expanding Creativity Beyond “Just the Arts”
Although she’s a performing artist, writer, and filmmaker, Lieya is clear that creativity is not limited to artists.
She defines creativity as a “boundless sense of construction within a format”—something just as available to carpenters, entrepreneurs, or parents as to dancers and actors. The key is learning to access creative flow on demand, under real‑world constraints and schedules, rather than waiting passively for inspiration to strike.
Where to Go Next
If you’re a creator who lives in the tension between output and self‑doubt, or an educator trying to teach from a place of grounded confidence, this conversation is worth a full listen. Lieya offers a refreshing blend of artistry, science, and practicality.
Watch or listen to the full interview here: original interview on YouTube (starting about 1:10:00).
You can find more of Lieya’s work and her free nervous system mastery guide at lieya.com and queenofthemind.com. Get the free e-book Introduction to Nervous System Mastery.