The demands of daily life can overwhelm us with a lot of responsibility and obligation. It’s easy to feel stuck in a rut and to lose sight of the possibility for growth within every moment and the greater purpose we feel called to serve. This is where our innate creative spirit can help if we take the time to examine what’s keeping us stuck and make choices that nourish our spiritual and creative well-being. Join me as I explore how a healthy creative spirit feeds personal growth and meaningful ...
Dec 30, 2022•16 min•Ep. 21
Rachel Dickinson @geology26 has lived a rich life full of adventure, joy, loss, and love. A native of Freeville, New York, her family first settled in this region right after the American Revolution when her fifth-great grandfather received a tract of land as payment for his services during the war. The landscape of home has always deeply affected her; in particular, features created during the last Ice Age as glaciers carved waterfalls and gorges and rounded hills. In this episode she tells the...
Oct 05, 2022•59 min
Uniit Carruyo is an artist, educator, and musician. Like most people, her life has been full of transitions, some welcomed, others more unexpected and challenging. However, what sets Uniit apart from the majority of folks is how her creative spirit has helped her navigate transitions and see possibility in life’s unpredictable moments. This conversation is full of inspiration and wisdom with real-life practical applications. Uniit digs deep into what it means to live a creative life and shares h...
Sep 06, 2022•53 min
Every life is a collage of stories. For Regi Carpenter @regicarpenter, the most important stories are the stories that have not been told, what goes unsaid. Stories shape (and re-shape) beliefs, connect humans, and offer a creative container for authentic expression. For over twenty years Regi has been bringing songs and stories to audiences of all ages throughout the world in schools, theaters, libraries, at festivals, conferences, and in people’s backyards. Listen to this intimate conversation...
Aug 10, 2022•53 min
It’s not easy expressing your authentic self. Galina Singer @galinasinger knows this all too well, having grown up in the former Soviet Union at a time when self-expression was heavily censored. Since then, she has devoted her life to peeling away layers of learned behaviors and limiting beliefs that covered her authentic self. Now as a writer and a coach, she helps others do the same. Listen to this riveting discussion and learn how to find safety and freedom to be yourself. We also talk about ...
Jul 27, 2022•53 min
Christian Collier @ichristian3030 was riding back to his hotel after winning a poetry slam contest in Boston when he started taking inventory of his life. He felt so much gratitude for all the people and circumstances that led up to this celebratory moment and asked himself: if I was 15 again knowing what I now know, what would I want to see and have access to? From that moment, the seed of his community building heart began to blossom. He started organizing programs and coordinating literary wo...
Jul 13, 2022•52 min
Jasna Bogdanovska @jasnalika describes her first experience with photography as magical. In this episode, she tells her story of switching from the certainty and predictability of mathematics to the wild land of art and how this change sparked and still sparks enormous personal growth. Jasna’s creative process is one of exploration filled with uncertainty, unpredictability, and discomfort as well as adventure and excitement. She likens it to traveling. She says that most of her creative projects...
Jun 29, 2022•49 min
Listen to this self-compassion meditation guided by Brenna to begin to cultivate your inner nurturer.
Jun 15, 2022•11 min
We all have an inner critic. It’s that voice inside your head saying you aren’t good enough or that you SHOULD do this and SHOULD HAVE done that. A persistent inner critic often leads to the development of limiting beliefs that dampen confidence and paralyze you from taking risks or actions toward your dreams and authentic self-expression. Healing the inner critic is not about getting rid of it because that probably won’t happen. It’s about understanding where it’s coming from, why it’s surfacin...
Jun 15, 2022•15 min
Creativity is a cornerstone of Kate Nason’s life. It’s how she makes sense of things and how she makes meaning. Kate is a born storyteller who found tremendous healing in the process of writing her memoir Everything Is Perfect in which she explores the roles women inhabit throughout their lives, how they carry trauma, and the lengths they’ll go to protect their children and save themselves. It’s a fierce and often funny self-reckoning, a meditation on learning to trust one’s intuition. In this e...
Jun 01, 2022•56 min
Creativity has been a driving force in Werner Sun’s life since he was a kid. The urge both to process his inner life and express it to others led him to play the piano as a youth, explore physics research later in life, and develop into a multimedia visual artist. Werner sees creativity as a safe space to explore the unknown, develop trust and patience in yourself, and grow through challenges. In this episode he shares fascinating insights into the creative process and how it can serve as both a...
May 18, 2022•48 min
Alicia Free @aliciafree_bellydance is a badass belly dancer, musician, and podcast producer. She wants us to shake off the heavy and dance to feel lighter. Alicia uses movement, live music, and simple costuming as her favorite creative endeavors. In this uplifting and inspiring conversation Alicia shares her own story of being drawn to dance as a way to feel free in her body, mind, heart, and spirit. She recounts one performance in particular where she allowed grief to move through her without c...
May 04, 2022•47 min
Juhanna is an artist, educator, and motivational speaker encouraging people from underrepresented populations to live out loud and unapologetically. Her story is a beautiful example of the ways in which art and activism can align to improve lives and strengthen communities. In this conversation, Juhanna openly and honestly recounts her own challenging life transitions and experiences as a woman of color with the kind of courage and vulnerability that arises from years of deep introspection. The ...
Apr 20, 2022•46 min
When Stacey @staceyhenrycarr left the corporate world to become a hypnotherapist and transformational coach, she “did an unbecoming.” She let go of all the shoulds and musts, all the familial and societal expectations she had been living by and uncovered her true self, someone she had been all along but did not fully embody. She loves the work she does now helping women discover old imprints and beliefs and the root causes of those beliefs that have forced them to show up to their lives on autop...
Mar 30, 2022•59 min
For most of her life Suzanne Onodera @sazaono, a painter and deeply creative soul, has pondered the big questions: who am I, where did I come from, and how can I express myself with authenticity and artistry? Listen to this fascinating conversation with Suzanne in which we explore such topics as mystery, memory, and the relationship between fear and authentic expression. Suzanne tells stories of turning grief into wonder through creative process. She talks about how she found strength and inspir...
Mar 09, 2022•1 hr 11 min
What is creative energy and why does it get blocked? Join me in Episode 7 of Creative Recovery as I explore creativity from a holistic mind-body-spirit perspective. I will guide you through a reflective exercise to facilitate awareness of and curiosity around your own creative spirit and what might be blocking it. My intention is to support you in moving from stuck to flow in your creativity and in your life. Notes and Resources: This episode was edited and mixed by Chad Clarke, @the.podcast.pro...
Mar 02, 2022•16 min
In Episode 5 we heard part 1 of my Creative Recovery conversation with Dr. Sarah Jefferis @dr.jefferies.write.now, author, editor, coach and speaker. She recounted her story growing up with trauma and how writing served as a powerful vehicle for transforming her traumatic wounds into meaningful poems, novels, and essays. We explored what it means to rewrite a story of trauma, and Sarah shared a reflective journaling exercise that can facilitate this process. We also touched on how creativity, sp...
Feb 23, 2022•23 min
What is the relationship between creativity and healing? Listen to Dr. Sarah Jefferis @dr.jefferies.write.now, author, editor, coach and speaker as she recounts growing up with trauma and how writing served as a powerful vehicle for transforming her traumatic wounds into meaningful poems, novels, and essays. In part 1 of our conversation, we explore what it means to rewrite a story of trauma, and Sarah shares a reflective journaling exercise that can facilitate this process. We also touch on how...
Feb 16, 2022•33 min
This meditation is intended to ground you in your body and help you access a flowing stream of energy from the Earth.
Feb 09, 2022•9 min
In Episode 3 we heard part 1 of my Creative Recovery conversation with Delia Ahouandjinou, dancer and body-centered therapist. She recounted her story growing up with a misdiagnosed autoimmune condition and how her life journey led her into a deeper understanding of the relationship between creativity, embodiment, and healing. We explored what it means to be embodied and how developing a healthy relationship to the body facilitates access to and expression of personal truth. In Episode 4, part 2...
Feb 09, 2022•36 min
Creativity is not just for artists; it’s a way of living, a way of being. Listen to the story of Delia Ahouandjinou, dancer and body-centered therapist, as she recounts growing up with a misdiagnosed autoimmune condition and how her life journey led her into a deeper understanding of the relationship between creativity, embodiment, and healing. In part 1 of our conversation, we explore what it means to be embodied and how developing a healthy relationship to the body facilitates access to and ex...
Feb 02, 2022•25 min
The process of creative recovery involves unlearning habits and limiting beliefs that don’t serve us. Much of this looks like shedding the heavy layers and inaccurate perceptions about ourselves and our purpose in life that we accumulated from childhood to adulthood. Creative recovery is returning to that innate sense of wonder and curiosity we were born with and that we called upon as a kid exploring the world. It’s a process of cultivating more play and pleasure in our lives. In this episode I...
Jan 26, 2022•23 min
The intention behind Creative Recovery is to help people heal and become as fully expressed as possible in their lives. Creative Recovery is about embracing the process of becoming, of recovering your authentic self and growing into the person you aspire to be. It’s a process that involves understanding what shaped you and your beliefs about yourself and exceeding the limits of who you think you are as well as challenging yourself to express who you are, what you want to say, and how you want to...
Jan 19, 2022•13 min•Season 3Ep. 1
In this episode Creative Recovery host, Brenna Fitzgerald, steps into a rich and inspiring conversation with Gladys Brangman, Founder of Business Leaders of Colors (BLOC). Together they explore the topics of entrepreneurship, creativity, social justice, and much more. Listen to the story of how Gladys discovered her lifelong intention to serve others and how this intention infuses her entrepreneurial creativity and commitment to social justice. Other highlights of this episode include the import...
Aug 01, 2021•41 min•Season 2Ep. 12
In this episode Brenna Fitzgerald, creativity coach, steps into conversation with writer Jen Savran Kelly to discuss the very personal process of writing and selling her forthcoming novel Endpapers, which explores gender queerness among other topics. Jen reveals how writing fiction has served as a vehicle for her own self-discovery and healing. She also discusses how to stay true to yourself while selling a novel and how to build trust in your creative self by navigating fear and doubt with inte...
Jun 30, 2021•37 min
Rowan Drake is an ambitious teenage artist and creator working to change the perspective of millions into a more open minded and risk-taking mindset. He’s excited to share his experiences with the world and influence as many people as possible through his songs. Rowan is seventeen years old. Listen to this inspiring conversation as we explore what it means to cultivate authentic expression, especially in a digital age. Learn about the benefits of opening to fear, vulnerability as a way to connec...
Jun 01, 2021•29 min
Julia Dean is a production potter and community studio owner in Ithaca, New York. Her love affair with clay started as a child, but her practice of working with clay started with her first wheel class in 1997. Listen to this conversation and learn about creative flow, how it helps release the inner critic, and how understanding flow cycles can help you balance creative production and rest. We also touch on practices for entering creative flow, including cultivating stillness; embracing process a...
May 05, 2021•40 min
Gloria Lemus-Chávez and Brandon Kane are musicians living in upstate New York. They are also domestic partners with full-time jobs, kids, and all the responsibilities (and distractions) of a modern adult life. Listen to this conversation exploring how they make time and space for creative pursuits, why it’s important, and the meaning it brings to their lives and to their relationships. Brandon’s musical debut was around 1994, with legendary crust-influenced, melodic hardcore punk band from Phila...
Apr 13, 2021•52 min
In this episode Brenna Fitzgerald, creativity coach, invites poet and spoken word performer, Rich Ferguson, to discuss his creative process, including writing his new poetry collection titled Everything is Radiant Between the Hates in such a challenging time as the pandemic. In this conversation, Rich explores how to have patience with creative process while also responding to the urgency of the now. We touch on creating during turbulent times, finding inspiration in the everyday, honoring inten...
Mar 06, 2021•51 min
In this episode Brenna Fitzgerald, creativity coach, steps into conversation with her former podcast co-host, Lu Camy, to explore Lu’s work as a hypnotist and how hypnotherapy can serve creativity. Lu discusses how to release old conditioning and limiting beliefs held in the subconscious mind that act as barriers to creative flow. Learn about trance states, dream analysis, past-life regression, and the power of hypnotherapy for personal and creative growth. Lu Camy is a certified hypnosis practi...
Feb 02, 2021•34 min
