Creative Genius

In this podcast episode, Kate Shepherd interviews Carmen Spagnola, a trauma recovery practitioner, clinical hypnotherapist, Le Cordon Bleu trained chef and author of Spirited Kitchen: Recipes and Rituals for the Wheel of the Year.Carmen shares how her love for food and hospitality, coupled with her healing journey, led her to write a book that goes beyond recipes. She discusses attachment styles, trauma, and how to start the healing process.Carmen also shares accessible rituals we can do at home to deepen our own healing process and connect with our ancestors. One of the key concepts she talks about is contact nutrition, which can help us heal and shift our attachment styles to allow us to be more open to joy and fulfillment in life.The episode invites listeners to step into a deeper level of themselves through food, ritual, self-love, curiosity, and making themselves available to receive magic and love. Some of the key highlights of the episode are:Carmen's background and how she started writing Spirited KitchenAttachment styles and how they can be changedContact nutrition and how it can help us heal and shift our attachment stylesAccessible rituals we can do at home to deepen our own healing process and connect with our ancestorsGet out your tissues and your journals and prepare your heart to grow at least a full size listening to this conversation.

Amira Rahim, a successful commercial abstract artist who founded Better Than Art School™, shares her journey of finding her creative voice and creating a successful art business around it. Growing up in Newark, New Jersey, where other legendary talents like Queen Latifah and Lauryn Hill also grew up, Amira felt the pressure to live up to the place's artistic standards. She overcame the two things that were stopping her from finding her voice, which she shares with us inside the episode, along with the methodical method she developed for finding one's creative voice. So many valuable insights inside this episode, for artists struggling to find their creative voice and build on it. This episode is an excellent resource for anyone who wants to be an abstract artist but has struggled with finding their voice. Amira seems to have truly cracked the formula for finding your voice, and inside this episode, she gives you the week-long assignment she gives to all her students who are ready to find their voice.IN THIS EPISODELiving up to the pressures of creativityAmira's method for finding her voice as an artist (that she teaches inside Better Than Art School ™) The biggest challenge she thinks we are all facing as artists is the act of creating.Amira gives us an assignment that will help anyone feeling stuck and not able to find their creative voice, and she says all it takes is a week.Practical pointers for artists struggling with composition and finding their color paletteWhy finding your style is so vital - valuable insights and practical things you can do inside a week that can catapult you forward in finding your voice, especially as an abstract painter.What is behind our reluctance to let our paintings go, the ones we really love, and the journey to selling your work consistently as an artist.

Today's guest is Danielle LaPorte, author of The Fire Starter Sessions, White Hot Truth, The Desire Map. She has created dozens of meditation kits and online programs for spiritual support and is a member of Oprah’s SuperSoul 100. We talk about embracing and loving all parts of ourselves, surrender, creativity, and her intention behind her new book "How To Be Loving...when your heart is breaking open and the world is waking up."Danielle and I talk about embracing and loving all parts of ourselves, surrender, creativity, and her intention behind her new book "How To Be Loving...when your heart is breaking open and the world is waking up."She shares how she learned to pray for wanting the right things and opens up about her daily routine for connecting with the source and tapping into divine guidance. She also touches on non-dualism and how it relates to Adyashanti’s teachings.This episode offers valuable insights into discerning between ego and true self, embracing all parts of oneself, and the limitations of manifesting. In this episodeThe relationship between envy and inspirationFear of our desires not coming true or being taken away Discerning between ego and true self when seeking guidanceHow the unhealed self can look for approval everywhere, even from God.Advice for those who feel trapped in expressing themselvesDanielle shares her daily routine for connecting with source and divine guidanceThe disordered and unhealthy behaviour around manifesting in the self-help/social media spaceGIVEAWAYKate is giving away a copy of Danielle’s book and a $100 gift certificate for Morning Moon Nature Jewelry! To enter:Subscribe to the show (hit the little plus sign beside the show in Apple Podcasts) Leave some stars & a review for the show in Apple PodcastsSign up for Kate’s newsletter (you’ll also get a bunch of freebies when you do this) Follow @kateshepherdcreative @thecreativegeniuspodcastTag a friend in the comments of this post saying why you want to read Danielle’s book 

Margaret “Mo” Smith is an adamant believer in human potential and is passionate about helping people build the lives and businesses of their dreams by supporting them to step into themselves as leaders. She believes that the magic is in our energy and that we can create lives where money flows with less effort. We chat about how to shift our energy and manifest our desires and she shares her personal experience and insights on the importance of surrender and creativity. Mo shares about what she does day to day and how she got into this work of helping people build the lives and businesses of their dreams and offers us tangible useful insights, about the power of energy and how it can help us create lives where money flows with less effortBe sure to claim the FREE GUIDED MEDITATION available to all listeners of this episode  WHAT WE TALK ABOUT The Biggest Things That Prevent Us from Having the Lives of Our DreamsMo shares the number one thing she thinks people are believing or doing that is causing the most harm and keeping them from experiencing true happinessManifesting and EnergyMo explains manifesting and gives a crash course on how to do itDiscusses how the energy we give off affects our day to day livesTalks about how to identify patterns that aren't working and shift them in a meaningful and lasting wayUnlearning and SetbacksMo hares what she has had to unlearn on her own journeyDiscusses pitfalls along the way that might be helpful to know for someone starting outTalks about the importance of surrender in the manifesting processCreativity and EnergyMo talks about her own creativity practice and what she gets out of itShares what creativity feels like in her body and how it can help us shift our energySummarizes the importance of energy and manifesting in building the lives and businesses of our dreamsEncourages listeners to tap into their own energy and creativity to create the lives they desire.Full show notes on KateShepherdCreative.com

In this episode, host Kate Shepherd interviews Ange Miller, a prolific creator and teacher, about creativity and its importance in our lives. Ange and Kate share a deep conversation about the creative process, the things that hold us back, and the importance of reconnecting with nature, journaling, and meditating.Ange talks about her role as an advocate for the creative identity of humanity, a calling that didn't exist when she was in school. She shares her experiences of forging a path in uncharted territory and the challenges that come with such a huge calling. Ange also discusses how the educational system often overlooks the unique gifts of individuals, leading to isolation and a feeling of not belonging.Ange and Kate also explore what humans want more than anything else and how creativity is a living treasure inside us. Ange shares her work as a trailblazer in the alcohol ink craze and how she felt called to share all her techniques, even though her ego wanted her to keep them for herself. She also talks about how this experience activated a path for her to be an advocate for creativity.Kate invites listeners to check out the Creative Genius Patreon membership, which offers a growing library of powerful resources designed to help individuals cultivate a deeper flow of creativity in their lives. Ange's message about the importance of creativity and reconnecting with nature, journaling, and meditating is a powerful reminder of the transformative power of creativity.

Instantly unlock the growing library bonus content including weekly bonus episodes, guided meditations, worksheets and journal prompts and support Kate to keep making this show, become a PatreonToni Nagy is a massively creative and incredibly intelligent, articulate content creator, stand up comedian, and writer. You have probably already seen one of her videos cross your social media feed - she interpretive dances her feelings, thoughts, and philosophies. She is also a filmmaker and the founder of CaveLight Productions. Her work is quasi–radical, somewhat-existential, and mostly funny.At the beginning of this episode, I share some thoughts on the importance of stewarding our dreams vs. sitting back and "going with the flow" or waiting for them to happen on their own time, how being overly flowy with our dreams can actually be a way of staying small and that maybe we have to take a more active role in making our dreams come true.Our guest in this episode, Toni Nagy caught my eye with her captivating interpretive dances which involve unique movements and spoken word work meshed together, in her dances she's expressing thoughts, working out how she's feeling about stuff, she's talking about philosophy. It's a little bit of activism even maybe.  When we get to the part of the conversation where Tony starts to talk about shadow. I was nodding so hard. I thought my earphones were gonna fall off. I love what she says about shadow. You know, there's so much talk about how to recognize and ignore the , negative limiting beliefs that are holding us back.And listen out for the part about negative self talk! She has a really interesting hot take on that and how there can actually be wisdom in some of it! WHAT WE TALK ABOUT-The magic and power of consistently showing up for yourself-Rituals for showing up for yourself and excavating more of your true creativity-Capitalism's impact on creativity-Why we work so hard to shove down one of the best parts of being human-The pressure of being beautiful or creating something beautiful and how it impacts our sense of self worth VISIT the Episode Page for more

Instantly unlock the growing library bonus content including weekly bonus episodes, guided meditations, worksheets and journal prompts and support Kate to keep making this show, become a PatreonEPISODE SUMMARY & SHOW NOTESRachel Philips Co-founded  The Heart Institute of Whidbey, which hosts grown up summer camps, heart journaling events and other joyful art-based escapades in and around Whidbey island in Washington State. She makes and teaches HeART journaling which is something that extends far beyond what you might think ordinary journaling might be about - there is deep wisdom and medicine woven into her teachings. I can hardly wait for you to dive into this episode.  Rachel has gifted every listener of Creative Genius $25 off her HeART journalling course.  WHAT WE TALK ABOUT-The importance of storytelling in all its various forms (including journaling) and how it is so much more than just words. -The thing she would do to change about society (if she had a magic wand)-The quiet yet profound transformation she sees take place over and over again when people start to journal with the technique she developed

Canadian Visual Artist Roxanne Willems was raised in a fundamentalist religious community that taught her her value in life was limited to serving her husband and children.She joins us today for a brave conversation about how with 4 young children, she found the courage to leave her family and community, how they ostracized her for it. She tells us about how she ended up falling into a violent second marriage on the heels of that and how she ultimately set herself free from the limiting beliefs that had been the only thing keeping her prisoner all along. Whether we believe we have enough or not, truly comes down to what we think - our thoughts are so powerful. Our mindset can be the difference between happiness and misery, joy or suffering. And so much of our mindset is inherited from the world around us which, unfortunately, is brimming with toxic limiting beliefs when it comes to things like what is possible for our lives, forgiveness, self worth, creativity,  happiness, abundance, love & joy in favor of damaging, paralyzing beliefs that center around fear, power, and survival. It is possible though to break through the shell of our limiting beliefs to create something that is based on trust, fulfillment, generosity, joy, intuition and creativity.  Roxanne worked hard to rewire her brain after years of being taught her life was only for serving others. Shares the thing she had to let go of that not only saved her life but led her to create a thriving career as an artist and a life that is filled with genuine abundance and happiness.  WHAT WE TALK ABOUT-Developing a deep trust with the universe-Everything in the universe is in a constant state of being primed for healing-How she rewired her brain, neutralizing limiting beliefs that were the root cause of her minimizing herself-Recognizing, examining and neutralizing harmful limiting beliefs (and how she did that)-Real talk about the inevitable pitfalls along any transformative journey (and how to deal with them) -Learning to live from a place of grounded trust as opposed to fear, flight, flight and freeze-What she had to let go of to truly step into a place of joyful curiosity that not only saved her life but led her into a life with a thriving career as a full time artist. visit the show notes page on KateShepherd Creative.com for moreRESOURCESRecovering from fundamentalist religionsDomestic Violence Resources CanadaViolence against womenMennoniteMelody Beattie Codependent no moreResources for Co-dependencyReiki

Comedian, Philosopher, Joy Sparker & World's Worst Motivational Speaker Rodney Norman joins us to talk about comedy’s powerful role in the healing process, the many benefits of making a fool of yourself and how nobody is really paying that much attention to you anyway so you may as well go do the thing you love doing. Formally educated as a philosopher, Rodney Norman found his way to stand up comedy 25 years ago and has been featured in the Boston Comedy Festival and was the Winner of the Rhode Island Comedy Festival. Rodney firmly believes that finding ways to laugh at ourselves, our foibles and even our traumas is one of the most powerful ways we can take the charge out of those things and get on with the healing process, and back to enjoying life - which according to him, is the point of the whole thing. His character Leonard, The World’s Worst Motivational Speaker, is unassuming and intentionally unpolished, delivers deep wisdom in a mumbly-fumbly way that has a widespread appeal - many of his videos going viral within days of being posted. Chances are good, if you have been on the internet at all in the past year, that you have seen one of Rodney’s videos. There is homework at the end of this episode, so listen out for that and if you want even more, have a poke around the Creative Genius Patreon - there is lots of really supportive bonus content there - homework, downloads and this week a gorgeous little Guided Meditation about Trust (which is also available for purchase for non Patreon supporters) Be sure to stick around to the end - Rodney’s character Leonard answers our billboard question for us today!So many nuggets of wisdom in this episode. WHAT WE TALK ABOUT-Rodney's secret to accessing and unleashing creative genius-The ridiculously simple thing we all have in us that would let us be creative geniuses, and why nobody wants to do it-How we often use our past difficulties as an excuse or way out of growing and how we can begin to use comedy to rewire our brains, heal trauma and truly enjoy life-The hard truth about the learning process and what to do about it. -Why it's never too soon to look for the funny side of your situation. Even in the midst of grief. -The secret to having everything in your life open up, according to Rodney. -The thing he noticed after 25 years of doing stand up that helped him let go of needing to get it right when it comes to performing-Get out there. Be stupid, look weird. Perfection is a turn off anyway. -How we often use our past difficulties as an excuse or way out of growing and how we can begin to use comedy to rewire our brains, heal trauma and truly enjoy life-And we play you his favourite viral clip (and mine!)

TV Writer, Producer, Assistant Director and Show-Runner Jill Girling known for Cube (1997), Ride (2016),  Queer as Folk (1999), Find Me in Paris and Spellbound joins us today for a very special heart to heart about how paralyzing the fear can be when we first come into contact with our creative gifts, how it can derail our loves and what we can do to find our way back to ourselves. Jill is someone who (like many people who have a deep current of creativity running through them) experienced a lot of fear when she first came into contact with her creative gifts.At the beginning of this episode Jill muses about what happened after she first decided she wanted to be a storyteller and writer - how she went veering almost cataclysmically from her path, getting lost in crime and partying and eventually in bringing other peoples creative dreams to life through her work as an Assistant Director in Hollywood.Over the course of this organic, curious and open hearted conversation, we discover together how fear can keep us from our creative dreams, causing us so much heartache. Together we are able to name and identify the mechanism that led Jill to veer off her path, what brought her back to it and the realization that maybe she was never really lost at all.When we start to see how these fear mechanisms work, how we're keeping ourselves from our dreams, it's like the portal to not doing that anymore. How often have we found ourselves facilitating someone else dream not our own?  How often have we done this? Are we doing it right now? What if you follow your creative dreams? What is the worst that will happen? You’re not going to die because you have a creative failure. You’re just going to learn from it.It is a powerful conversation, one that many of us can find ourselves in, and I can't wait for you to hear it.WHAT WE TALK ABOUT -How Creativity plays the long game with us, taking us on adventures that only make sense looking back at them-How fear of how bright the creativity inside her was stopped her from following her own creative dreams and ultimately led to a life of depression and alcoholism, and how she stopped that cycle and started to live the life of her dreams-How she healed her workaholism for once and for all -The one drastic thing she did that has done more for her creativity than anything else she has ever done-How she realized she couldn't juggle working, drinking AND writing. Wanted to give it a real shot - said to herself, lets see what happens if i quit drinking-The simple thing she does to get through times when she is overwhelmed with work - the little reward system that keeps everything functioning.     RESOURCES USED IN THIS EPISODESpellboundFind me in Paris (HULU)Great GatsbyLegends of the Fall Brad PittJackie Chan Rumble in the BronxAdhdJJ abrams HBOHallmark MoviesRide (Nickelodeon)Paris Opera Ballet School Gilmour GirlsVancouver Film School