This week on the podcast, a little holiday pep talk—I’ll offer you some spiritual practices to try on your own or with others during this season. May they offer you space for peaceful contemplation, fun, and maybe some “re-joying” that we all so desperately need.
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This week on the podcast….jealousy. Merideth offers a potent question to ask when you’re struggling with comparative thinking. Plus an answer to a listener's question about maintaining a healthy sense of self around family.
Fresh out of quarantine, I’m offering some thoughts on embodiment. I’ll give you 3 spiritual take-aways I garnered from the COVID experience at our house, with a few ideas on how our creative mindset can benefit from being present to the wisdom of our own body.
Being a joyful artist means cultivating an attitude of gratitude. What art or artist(s) are you most grateful for? Merideth shares a brief gratitude meditation for exploring that question and more.
Process: naming, working, trusting it….is this week’s focus. When we take a moment to examine the roller coaster that the creative process can be, we can gain key information and wisdom about our creative needs. Merideth offers some tips on how we can get more familiar with our unique creative rhythms, how to care for ourselves well throughout the process, and get better at trusting the ebb and flow of a creative life.
On today’s show: energy. What the research says about the most important resource for productivity… and no, it isn’t time. Creative energy doesn’t come in just one color or flavor— listen to learn a practical coaching tool for uncovering exactly what puts a “pep in your step” creatively.
On today’s show, devotion... or practice as a spiritual practice. How the discipline of daily artistic fundamental practice can connect us to something larger than ourselves and help us sustain a joyful creative life.
This week on the podcast, a long awaited update to the Creative Block series from Season 1. Merideth shares something she learned about creative block from a cranky massage therapist in Chicago. She’ll answer a listener question about future thinking and give you some math to consider this week.
This week on the podcast: curiosity. What purpose does it play in our creative lives? What one of Merideth’s favorite writers says to do when you do not feel passion for your art in a particular moment… she’ll also share info about an exciting new offering coming up next month you don’t want to miss!
This week on the podcast, after the truth-talk about self-sabotage last week—an episode devoted to self-sabotage’s first cousin….regret. What can our biggest regrets teach us about who we are and what we want, in our creative life and beyond?
Have you ever had an amazing opportunity and just watched it pass you by? Have your once-beloved creative projects suffered a demise at your very own hand? Why do artists self-sabotage? Merideth shares a story about a time she sabotaged herself, she’ll answer a listener question about post-pandemic performance anxiety, and give us something to consider this week.
On the podcast this week, Merideth does her best to put coaches (herself included) out of business. She’ll offer you some questions to help you get to the bottom of how you really feel and what you really want, to aid in finding more joy in your creative life.
This week Merideth discusses the harmful “tortured artist” stereotype that plagues artists everywhere. Must we be sad, depressive, melancholy individuals in order to make great art? Spoiler alert—nope :)
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What better way to begin Season 2 than with stories of artists starting over! Merideth shares the most important question to consider during a restart and offers some thoughts on coping in uncertain times. If you’re standing at the beginning of a new season, this one’s for you.
Compose Your Career Course (Code: JOY)
In the Season Finale, Merideth explores how the creative process can transform us from the inside out, if we just ask the right questions. She’ll answer a special lightning round of listener q’s and offer you something to consider this week before signing off for the summer.
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How do you answer that pesky, well-meaning question that strangers inevitably ask: ”What do you do?” This week on the podcast, a debunking of a lie creatives tell--”My work is my worth.” Does the answer to that small-talk icebreaker make you feel anxious or inadequate? If you aren’t creatively performing well in any given moment, does it affect your feelings of self-worth? Merideth will explore ways to replace that negative core belief with some joyful truth that can help you separate your value from your performance.
Listen to more of Schubert’s 1817 Sonatas performed by Sookkyung Cho
How does unstructured alone time affect our creativity? Where is the line between healthy solitude, which can promote important reflection and growth— and social isolation, which may cause loneliness? Merideth shares a little of what science has to say about the difference and explores the importance of restorative solitude for artists and creatives.
Study on the healthy aspects of social withdrawal
After the popularity of the anxiety episode, a follow up—this time anxiety’s legitimate, responsible, older cousin: worry. How are worry and anxiety different? What does the science say about worrying? Can it be helpful/useful? Merideth will share the results of a recent social media poll about artists’ worries, plus some things that are helping her cope with it lately.
Frederick Buechner’s book “Beyond Words”
This week on the podcast, the first in a series of new bonus episodes entitled "Meet an Artist Who," where we invite artists to share their stories in their own voice. This week Merideth chats with painter Jaye Schlesinger about her show "Possessed," a collection of 380 oil paintings depicting every item she owned after a two-year decluttering process.
How does what we own affect our creative life? Why is it so hard to let physical things go? This week Merideth offers three mantras she’s using to spark joy during the packing/moving process, thoughts on how clutter can slow us down, keep us scared, and even show us all that we have.