13: 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
  
  
•  Moving from seeking meaning to making meaning 
  
  

And SO much more!

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 trying to write your memoir but struggling  – 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! 

 
Theme music; The Vendetta by Stefan Kartenberg (copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.)