EP 13: From seeking meaning to making meaning with Eric Maisel
I am someone who is fascinated by psychology and human behaviour and so when these subjects are combined with my favourite subject – CREATIVITY – I’m in conversation heaven.
In this episode I have the pleasure of talking to Dr Eric Maisel, a retired family therapist widely regarded as America’s foremost creativity coach. He is also the author of over fifty books; including titles such as Unleashing the Artist Within, Fearless Creating, Creative Recovery, The Power of Daily Practice, and Mastering Creative Anxiety – to name only a few.
Eric also writes extensively in the area known as critical psychiatry, where he is a thought-leader and advocate for significant shifts in mental health paradigms and practices. He writes the “Rethinking Mental Health” blog for Psychology Today (with 2.5 million views) as well as weekly blogs for The Good Men Project.
Eric leads workshops for writers online and around the world, and he lives in beautiful California.
In this episode we discuss…
The biggest and most common challenges, either conscious or unconscious that stop people from doing the work
Sleep Thinking - how you can use your sleep to enhance your creativity
Exposure - establishing how much of yourself you are comfortable revealing.
How to dispute sabotaging thoughts so that they don’t sabotage your creative work
The role anxiety plays in the creative process and why establishing a portable anxiety management strategy is essential
The biggest cause of creative anxiety
How to stay on the inside of your creative work, not get trapped outside of it
Choosing your life purposes versus finding your life purpose
We talk at length about MEANING and how activities in the service of meaning i.e. doing your creative work, may not always feel meaningful but if they are serving something that you consider meaningful i.e achieving your big creative goal, such as writing your book, then simply the act of showing up and doing the work is enough!
If you’re someone who wants to develop a deeper, stronger, and more meaningful relationship with your creative work, then I can assure you, this episode and Eric’s powerful insights and ideas, are going to help you do just that!
And a special note to all you memoir writers out there…
If you’re someone who is trying but struggling to write your memoir – Eric shares some illuminating ideas about what might be holding you back and what you can do to move forward – so it’s definitely worth a listen!