The Syncreate Podcast: Empowering Creativity
Welcome to Syncreate, where we explore the intersections between creativity, psychology, and spirituality. Our goal is to demystify the creative process and expand the boundaries of what it means to be creative.
Creativity. It’s a word we throw around all the time, but what does it really mean? On the Syncreate Podcast, we share stories of the creative journey. We talk to changemakers, visionaries and everyday creatives working in a wide array of fields and disciplines. Our goal is to explore creativity in all its facets, and to gain a better understanding of the creative process – from imagination to innovation and everything in between.
The Syncreate Podcast is hosted by Melinda Rothouse, PhD. She helps individuals and organizations bring their creative dreams and visions to life through coaching, consulting, workshops, retreats, and now, this podcast. She's written two books on creativity, including Syncreate: A Guide to Navigating the Creative Process for Individuals, Teams, and Communities (winner of a Silver Nautilus Award for Creativity and Innovation), with Charlotte Gullick. She's also a musician (singer-songwriter and bass player) and photographer based in Austin, Texas.
The Syncreate Podcast: Empowering Creativity
Episode 74: Creative Spark Series - Living a Creative Life with Melinda Rothouse & Charlotte Gullick
What does it mean to live a creative life? What meaningful steps can we take to infuse creativity into our day-to-day experience? We often tell ourselves stories about how we’re not creative, but the reality is that we’re all using our creativity on a daily basis just to get through life, whether that takes the form of “art,” or simply cooking a beautiful meal, tending a garden, or decorating our homes. This episode, like the mini-episodes that preceded it, also includes insights from our book, Syncreate: A Guide to Navigating the Creative Process for Individuals, Teams, and Communities.
For our Creativity Pro-Tip, we we challenge you to begin a daily creative practice (even 10 minutes is significant) in service of living a more creative life.
Credits: The Syncreate podcast is created and hosted by Melinda Rothouse, and produced at Record ATX studios with in collaboration Michael Osborne and 14th Street Studios in Austin, Texas. Syncreate logo design by Dreux Carpenter.
If you enjoy this episode and want to learn more about the creative process, you might also like our conversations in Episode 49: Creativity in Challenging Times, Episode 67: Moving Through the World with a Creative Eye, and Episode 72: Creative Community.
At Syncreate, we're here to support your creative endeavors. If you have an idea for a project or a new venture, and you’re not sure how to get it off the ground, find us at syncreate.org. Our book, also called Syncreate, walks you through the stages of the creative process so you can take action on your creative goals. We also offer resources, creative process tools, and coaching to help you bring your work to the world. You can find more information on our website, where you can also find all of our podcast episodes. Find and connect with us on social media and YouTube under Syncreate, and we’re now on Patreon as well. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and leave us a review! We’d love to hear your feedback as well, so drop us a line at info@syncreate.org.
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Melinda: Welcome to Syncreate, a show where we explore the intersections between creativity, psychology, and spirituality. We believe everyone has the capacity to create. Our goal is to demystify the process and expand the boundaries of what it means to be creative. We talk with visionaries and change makers and everyday creatives, working in a wide range of fields and mediums - from the arts to science, technology and business.
We aim to illuminate the creative process - from imagination to innovation and everything in between. I'm Melinda Rothouse and I help individuals and organizations bring their dreams and visions to life.
Charlotte: And I'm Charlotte Gullick. I am a writer, educator, and writing coach. We are the co-authors of a book on the creative process, also called Syncreate.
At Syncreate, we’re here to support your creative endeavors. If you have an idea for a project or a new venture and you're not sure how to get it off the ground, find us at syncreate.org. Our book, also called Syncreate, walks you through the stages of the creative process so you can take action on your creative goals. We offer resources, creative process tools and coaching to help bring your work to the world.
We're offering a monthly coaching group starting in January 2025, and we'd be delighted for you to join us. We'd also love to hear your feedback on the show. Please drop us a line at info@syncreate.org. We're looking for feedback on how we can improve the show, what's resonating for you, and future topics you'd like us to cover.
Melinda: So, welcome back to the Syncreate Podcast - and we're doing another one of our Creative Spark episodes today - and today, we wanted to take a moment to really think about what it means to live a creative life. And again, you know, part of our goal with this show is to demystify the creative process and expand the boundaries of what it means to be creative. And so, creativity takes many, many different forms.
And it's important to recognize that we exercise our creativity every single day as we move about our daily lives, which may or may not have anything to do with art specifically, but how we cook a meal, you know - using whatever ingredients we have on hand, or how we decorate our homes. You know, it's about to be the holidays, so how do we decorate for the holidays? How do we tend a garden? How do we dress ourselves? You know, these are all expressions of our creativity.
And so, I think, you know - some of us, it’s easy to think - I just had a breakfast today with an old friend who's in town who I haven't seen in a while, and I met him at a contemplative arts retreat years ago. And he's a therapist and just a wonderful person, but he was kind of saying how he's been through a lot in his life over the past few years, as we all have. And he's like, “Yeah, I’m just not feeling that connected to my creativity right now, you know?”
And we were kind of having this conversation because I was telling him about the podcast and it's like - you know, even if we aren't feeling particularly creative, how can we shift our perspectives so that we see the creativity in our everyday lives? And it doesn't have to be in these huge ways - I mean, yes, of course that’s great - if we can commit to a daily, or at least a regular creative practice of some sort - and maybe another way of going about that is beginning to see how we actually are already exercising our creativity. So what does that spark for you?
Charlotte: So many things. (Laughter)
Charlotte: But I'm thinking about - I think what we’re asking people is to do a reframe.
Melinda: Yes.
Charlotte: And, you know, to give ourselves credit for the creativity that already exists in our life. And we're really good as a culture at discounting it. So we're asking ourselves to value the creativity, but it's hard. And I've also been doing some reading about people with ADHD, and it's really hard to accept praise. So, if you are someone that has a learning difference and part of that is, “Well, I'm not doing anything that interesting…” - is that actually might not be true - that you might be doing a lot that's creative, but you don't know how to see it that way. So, this could be a collaborative exercise where you could ask someone, “In what ways do you see that I'm creative?”
Melinda: Yeah.
Charlotte: “I'm having trouble seeing it. These people over at the Syncreate podcast keep insisting that everyone's creative.” (Laughter)
Melinda: They keep telling us! (Laughter)
Charlotte: “I keep listening to them because it's so compelling, but I'm not sure I believe them - that I'm creative.”
Melinda: Right?
Charlotte: So, I mean, I think you could ask someone - "In what ways can you see that I'm creative?” And I think that's one half of it. The second half is to be really open to what they say.
Melinda: Yes - because sometimes people can see us, you know, as we are unable to see ourselves, and something we take for granted that we do in our lives, we don't consider it creative, and it actually is amazingly creative. You know, what you just said, it reminds me of this meme I saw today, which was so cute. I think it was Viola Davis who had posted it and the caption is, “Well, what's going on?” Like, “Oh, nothing much”. And then it's this caterpillar that weaves itself into a cocoon and then emerges as a butterfly. “Oh, nothing. Just, you know, transforming completely.” (Laughter)
Melinda: We don't always see it because we're in it, you know?
Charlotte: And I think that's the inventory that we're asking people to take - you know, in what ways are you already creative? That's an important basis to build how you want to expand your creativity. Because I think it moves out of a scarcity mindset to say I already have creativity in my life, and if I learn to recognize that I do, then I'm again in that empowered place to maybe take some more risk, because I'm already doing it.
Melinda: Yeah. I mean, you know, my friend that I had breakfast with today, he was talking about raising his kids and parenting and how he approaches that. And I'm like, parenting is a very, very creative endeavor. Right? And then he started talking about, “Oh, my kids are so amazing. And their lives are just full of wonder and curiosity.” And of course, as a parent, you're also facilitating that, right? So even if you're like, “I got kids, I don't have time for creativity”, well, you're already doing it, you know?
Charlotte: Absolutely.
Melinda: Even making children is a creative act. (Laughter)
Charlotte: I'm going to keep it G-rated and not comment. (Laughter)
Melinda: Right. (Laughter)
Melinda: So, yeah. Anything to add before we move to our Pro Tip?
Charlotte: Well, I think the pro tip connects to it, but I'm - asking ourselves, what is the story that we're telling our self about our creativity? And is it accurate? I think that's the other part of what we're already saying today.
Melinda: Yeah.
Charlotte: And then maybe you want to be a little more bold in some way. Maybe you want apply to a writing or an artist fellowship and you've never done that before. Or do you want to wear a really colorful scarf but it feels so bold that it's gonna draw attention? Take a little - I’m stealing this from the book I'm listening to - but a micro risk.
Melinda: Yeah.
Charlotte: On behalf of your creative self.
Melinda: I love that. I love that. So, in honor of living a creative life, our Pro Tip today is can we commit to some kind of daily creative practice - whatever that looks like for each of us? Even 5 to 10 minutes a day is usually doable in some way, and whether that's committing to a particular artistic practice or whether that's just shifting that perspective, so that we can see the creativity and sort of honor and cultivate the creativity in our everyday lives.
Charlotte: And the super pro tip is get a pair of ridiculous sparkly glasses and put them on for that amount of time (Laughter) and look at your life through your creative lens, because sometimes we need a little trick. (Laughter)
Melinda: Absolutely. Or whatever works. A little life hack. (Laughter)
Charlotte: Find us and connect with us on YouTube and social media under Syncreate, and we're on Patreon as well. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and leave us a review.
Melinda: We're recording today at Record ATX Studios in Austin with Charlotte joining us from the Hudson Valley. The podcast is produced in collaboration with Mike Osborne at 14th Street Studios. Thanks so much for being with us, and see you next time.
