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The best podcasts for personal growth thru creative passion

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Who am I?

I’m a writer/researcher with a very full-time job who decided to carve out nonexistent hours in the day to write and host a podcast. Recently released, this passion project is a space where I weave together stories, my original poetry, and music to inspire our collective quest for personal growth. The podcast allows me to ignore all the “shoulds” of life and focus on experiences that bring me pleasure and fulfillment, crafting illustrative stories and reciting poems to a background of beats, music, and soundscapes. It’s my eclectic mix of performing arts and personal growth. My mom's recent illness sent me into a tailspin; the only thing that brought me solace was writing poetry, being in nature, and listening to music. House, hip hop, classic rock, folk -- songs from many genres became the soundtrack to my struggles (and kept me company thru more than 10 trips to the ER). Eventually, I started to get stronger from all the struggle, and I felt compelled to share what I learned: that creative passions are the way forward, and that positive growth can come from struggle. Now I try to inspire people to stay on "the bright side of the beat."

My Show

What is my podcast about and/or how does it relate to the playlist topic you chose?

My podcast chronicles my journey through grief and dark times, a journey that ultimately made me stronger, more focused, and more fulfilled than I could have imagined. Using themes and tools from positive psychology such as mindfulness, positive reframing, creative flow, and journaling, Let the Verse Flow seeks to inspire listeners to build internal resources to cope with the highs and lows of life. Instead of lectures, I give you personal stories. Instead of top 10 lists, I give you poetry, and instead of rules, I give you music. It’s from this imaginative place that I hope your creativity and inner strength will grow.

What is my podcast playlist about?

These shows illustrate the intimate connection between our creative spirit and our personal growth. They celebrate the inseparable elements that combine to form what we call “the good life.”

The podcasts I picked and why

1. Creative Pep Talk

Why this podcast?

Illustrator and host, Andy J. Pizza, shows why inclusivity is vital to amplifying different voices and ideas. He identifies as someone who has ADHD and then proceeds to show us why we should care. Fast on his feet, insightful and intriguing in the way he weaves a story together, he speaks to our collective journey to find meaning through creative expression. His podcast isn’t simply a listening experience, it’s a whimsical manifesto for how to live creatively. Andy offers practical tips and strategies that blur the line between the work of building a successful creative practice and the journey to living a more fulfilling life.

Creative Pep Talk

Creative Pep Talk

Andy J. Pizza

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Inspiring Stories & Actionable Strategies for Building a Thriving Creative Practice

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25 Listeners

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2. Windowsill Chats

Why this podcast?

While I love this podcast for the way it creates a space in which we have the sense that we are part of a greater creative culture and community, I think host Margo Tantau’s greatest gift is her skill as an interviewer. Whether it’s frank discussions on the struggle (and triumph) of art-making or the fluid balance between creativity and creative practice, Margo’s guests provide weekly insights in a cozy audio environment. We feel like we are listening to our friends speak. Margo asks the right questions, responds in interesting ways, and moves the conversation forward in such a natural order that we literally feel as though we are perched on her windowsill. Not easy to do through audio, but she makes it happen. For anyone wanting an authentic voice to help them process and enjoy their creative journey (and grow from it), have a listen.

Windowsill Chats

Windowsill Chats

Margo Tantau

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Windowsill Chats is a podcast for artists and creatives who are curious about what it's like to live, work & walk a creative path. You'll find honest stories, refreshing tips, artistic business advice and real conversations with global artists & makers just like you. Host Margo Tantau, a 30+ year Creative Director, Product Designer & maker, is a cheerleader for your success. Come grab a cuppa & join her in her sunny windowsill.

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3. The Emerald

Why this podcast?

If any podcast can truly be called immersive, this one can. When you want to feel like you are being taken to another realm, where myth and present-world possibility intertwine, the Emerald podcast is one place you should go. While I don’t pretend to understand all of it, I’m accepting of the fact that the questions asked (and answered in this podcast) are the right questions. Things like, Where do we go when we die, or Are objects animate? Culling from a broad swath of sources (poetry, mythology, ancient practices and beliefs, and music), this podcast is a journey through ideas and assumptions that make up the very essence of what it means to be human. In that way, it is about both personal growth and creativity.

The Emerald

The Emerald

Joshua Schrei

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The Emerald explores the human experience through a vibrant lens of myth, story, and imagination. Brought to life through the wise, wild, and humorous vision of Joshua Michael Schrei — a teacher and lifelong student of the cosmologies and mythologies of the world — the podcast draws from a deep well of poetry, lore, and mythos to challenge conventional narratives on politics and public discourse, meditation and mindfulness, art, science, literature, and more. At the heart of the podcast is the premise that the imaginative, poetic, animate heart of human experience — elucidated by so many cultures over so many thousands of years — is missing in modern discourse and is urgently needed at a time when humanity is facing unprecedented problems. The Emerald advocates for an imaginative vision of human life and human discourse as it questions deep underlying assumptions about societal progress.

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11 Listeners

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4. Let the Verse Flow: Personal Growth Thru a Creative Lens

Why this podcast?

Adding my voice to the mix here, I recommend my podcast. Let the Verse Flow is a passion project that grew out of the grief (and personal growth) I experienced after my mom’s illness. To cope with this difficult time I wrote poetry (and listened to music). The result? This mashup of narrative stories, my original poetry, and music tells the story of my roadmap to a better life. Part performing arts/part self-help, it’s a positive exploration of healing and personal growth.

Join writer and host, Jill Hodge, as she shares her creative self-care journey through a soulful mashup of storytelling, spoken word poetry, and music. Part self-help/part performing arts, this podcast explores personal growth through a creative lens.

Through an immersive backdrop of music and soundscapes, Jill explores a variety of practices and tools drawn from positive psychology like mindfulness, positive reframing, gratitude, and creative flow.
Dive into creative self-care techniques such as journal writing and affirmation meditations. You’ll find journal prompts at the end of every episode to guide your own self-reflection.

This podcast was born out of the struggle (and then insight) that Jill experienced as she dealt with her mother’s ailing health. She turned to creative expression for comfort and discovered the life-changing ways that it revealed a path toward a more purposeful life. In verse form: “I thought I’d lost myself along a road that was seldom straight or supple, but after the broken shards fell away, I glimpsed the undergrowth. From every tear that had fallen, nestled in life’s rich soil, there sprang a stalk, now entangled and evergreen. Exhausted, I rested under the lush canopy. This is my story.”

Let Jill inspire your creative self-care journey as she shares her “reflections from the bright side of the beat” and join this growing community by connecting with her at https://www.lettheverseflow.com/.

Want to ignite your creative self-care journey? Sign up for Jill’s free companion newsletter, the Me-Time Mixtape, which offers 3 essential, hand-curated creative self-care resources designed to put you back on your to-do list.

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5. On Being with Krista Tippett

Why this podcast?

Why do I love this podcast? Because of the way it makes meaning. They describe the show best: “On Being‘s singular mix of spiritual inquiry, science, social healing, and the arts: biomimicry and the science of awe; spiritual contrarianism and social creativity; pause and poetry and more towards stretching into this world ahead with moral imagination and joy.” I love the mindset behind ideas like “pause and poetry” and “moral imagination.” Provocative interviews that feel intimate and personal, and can keep you thinking for days. Start with March 16, 2023 (Rick Rubin - Magic, Everyday Mystery, and Getting Creative).

On Being with Krista Tippett
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Wisdom to replenish and orient in a tender, tumultuous time to be alive. Spiritual inquiry, science, social healing, and poetry. Conversations to live by. With a 20-year archive featuring luminaries like Mary Oliver, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Desmond Tutu, each episode brings a new discovery about the immensity of our lives. Hosted by Krista Tippett, Learn more about the On Being Project’s work in the world at onbeing.org.

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76 Listeners

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