Creative Recovery Brenna Fitzgerald

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 connection. I guide listeners through a reflection on how stuck energy manifests in the body-mind-heart-spirit, offering insights on how to begin the process of moving from stuck to flow and recovering a zest for life.

Notes and Resources:

This episode was edited and mixed by Chad Clarke, chadtheva@gmail.com

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 story of writing through grief after the suicide of her teenaged son, Jack, a decade ago. Her insights into the wild and mysterious landscape of human emotion will open your mind and your heart. With honesty and vulnerability, Rachel explores the relationship between creativity and healing and what it means to seek her truth and to share it on the page.

Rachel received a degree in geology from Kirkland College, studied American History at the University of Delaware, and eventually got an MFA in nonfiction from Goucher College. She was a travel writer for about a decade, publishing pieces in The Atlantic, Smithsonian.com, Outside.com, and Audubon. Her essays have appeared in Catapult, Aeon, and Salon. As an author, she's written seven nonfiction books including Falconer on the Edge, The Notorious Reno Gang, and her forthcoming memoir The Loneliest Places: Loss, Grief, and the Long Journey Home. Her latest book explores the complicated world of loss and grief and what it means to be part of a family after the suicide of her son.

Notes and Resources:

Rachel on Facebook

Rachel on Instagram: @geology26

Rachel on Twitter: @rachelbirds

This episode was edited and mixed by Chad Clarke, chadtheva@gmail.com

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 how you can bring your creative expression into any space and situation, from the office to the home. Be sure to check her out on instagram @honeypine.house for a peek into how she transformed a bus into a stunning tiny home.



Notes and Resources:

This episode was edited and mixed by Chad Clarke @clarke_chad on IG

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 about the transformative power of storytelling and how you can re-story your life as a way to heal from past wounds. We also talk about the emerging field of narrative medicine, the healing potential of sharing your story, how to make stories come alive orally and on the page, and using fear as an opportunity to let go and trust.

An award-winning performer, Regi Carpenter has toured her solo shows and workshops in theaters, festivals, and schools, nationally and internationally. She is the recipient of many awards, and her stories have been featured on Sirius Radio, Apple Seed Radio, The Moth, and NPR. Regi is also the founder of Stories with Spirit, a creative initiative dedicated to bringing songs of joy and stories of hope to grieving children and the people who love and care for them in homes, hospices, and hospitals.



Notes and Resources:

www.regicarpenter.com

This episode was edited and mixed by Chad Clarke, chadtheva@gmail.com

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 the process of healing trauma and working with fear and how this kind of deep inner work paves the way for free and open creative expression. Link to full episode in bio.

Galina Singer is a writer, speaker, relationship philosopher, and a coach. She is passionate about liberating relationships from tradition so we can find more authentic ways to be together. Galina investigates subjects deemed taboo: shame, shadow, body, sexuality, infidelity, because what we keep hidden and repressed prevents intimacy in our relationships. By peeling away layers of societal and family conditioning she helps clients to re-discover their authentic voices and wake up to relationships and lives of freedom and fulfillment.

Notes and Resources:

Connect with Galina on her website, Facebook , Instagram, sign up to her Newsletter, and/or read her articles published in Elephant Journal

Gabor Maté

Peter Levine, Trauma Healing

Bessel van der Kolk, MD, The Body Keeps the Score

This episode was edited and mixed by Chad Clarke, chadtheva@gmail.com

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 workshops for teens, the efforts of which eventually led to the creation of The Plug Poetry Project, an arts initiative whose goal is to honor and grow Chattanooga’s poetry community by providing resources, classes, workshops, readings, and events. Christian’s story is deeply inspiring, filled with creativity, compassion, and a commitment to serving others. In this episode Christian talks in depth about his process writing The Gleaming of the Blade, his latest poetry collection examining Black masculinity in the contemporary American South. He discusses the power of journaling, the importance of taking risks in your work, and how being creative also means being resourceful, playful, and generous. Link to full episode in bio.

Christian J. Collier is a Black, Southern writer, arts organizer, and teaching artist who resides in Chattanooga, TN. His works have appeared or are forthcoming in Hayden’s Ferry Review, The Michigan Quarterly Review, Atlanta Review, Grist Journal, and elsewhere. A 2015 Loft Spoken Word Immersion Fellow, he is also the winner of the 2020 ProForma Contest and the 2019-2020 Seven Hills Review Poetry Contest. Christian’s poems never shy away from interrogating harsh injustices and contending with the truth of today’s America, a truth sometimes beautiful, sometimes biting

Notes and Resources:

http://www.christianjcollier.com/

Insta: @ichristian3030

Twitter: @IChristian3030

The Plug Poetry Project

Mark Bradford

This episode was edited and mixed by Chad Clarke, chadtheva@gmail.com