Embracing Your Inner Artist, Imposter Syndrome, Joy and Self Love with Marcus Amaker
05/18/21 • 77 min
Ever thought about being a creative for a living or are in the midst of that path or are simply inspired by those whose presence oozes depth and art? Then you’re going to love this conversation! Marcus Amaker is the epitome of Artist as an award winning spoken word poet, graphic designer and musician and the Poet Laureate of Charleston.
He addresses the stereotype of the “starving artist” narrative to overcome our fears around pursing our creativity for a living and gives 3 tips on imposter syndrome. He provides fascinating insight into the child versus adult mind based on his experience working in schools. We talk about how/when we lose our identification as “artist” and what that term even means. Marcus generously offers a “self portrait” writing prompt PDF that he uses in schools to get kids writing their feelings, which you’ll find in the show notes for free (yes, it's for adults too).
We talk about what a Poet Laureate actually does, how he became one, and of course I ask him about his feelings on Amanda Gorman. We talk joy triggers, trauma porn, and I ask Marcus how he strikes a balance between pain and joy in this world, especially as a writer and black man. He tells me that balance doesn’t exist and asks us to look to how we respond to children’s joy versus our own.
We also talk about a second artist stereotype, that you have to suffer for great Art, in which Marcus refutes such argument. We talk healthy, empathic ways of processing stress and pain through creativity, and all of this concludes with Marcus sharing his take on self care as a self emptying. He reads 3 poems aloud, and the one on self love gave me the biggest chills! ________________
Connect with Alyssa @alyssakuzins on Instagram.
Your 100th Episode Gift! BODY ART "thorns and roses" 90 minute embodied dance writing workshop to somaticize the thorns and roses of life and life. alyssakuzins.com/roses
For Marcus's books, albums, the "self portrait" writing prompt PDF: alyssakuzins.com/marcus-amaker
Got a minute? Give SCS a 5 star rating!
Got 5 minutes? Write SCS a stellar review to get the word out!
Deepest gratitude for listening and sharing, friends!
Connect with Alyssa: Instagram http://www.instagram.com/alyssakuzins
Advertising Inquires: email [email protected]
Ever thought about being a creative for a living or are in the midst of that path or are simply inspired by those whose presence oozes depth and art? Then you’re going to love this conversation! Marcus Amaker is the epitome of Artist as an award winning spoken word poet, graphic designer and musician and the Poet Laureate of Charleston.
He addresses the stereotype of the “starving artist” narrative to overcome our fears around pursing our creativity for a living and gives 3 tips on imposter syndrome. He provides fascinating insight into the child versus adult mind based on his experience working in schools. We talk about how/when we lose our identification as “artist” and what that term even means. Marcus generously offers a “self portrait” writing prompt PDF that he uses in schools to get kids writing their feelings, which you’ll find in the show notes for free (yes, it's for adults too).
We talk about what a Poet Laureate actually does, how he became one, and of course I ask him about his feelings on Amanda Gorman. We talk joy triggers, trauma porn, and I ask Marcus how he strikes a balance between pain and joy in this world, especially as a writer and black man. He tells me that balance doesn’t exist and asks us to look to how we respond to children’s joy versus our own.
We also talk about a second artist stereotype, that you have to suffer for great Art, in which Marcus refutes such argument. We talk healthy, empathic ways of processing stress and pain through creativity, and all of this concludes with Marcus sharing his take on self care as a self emptying. He reads 3 poems aloud, and the one on self love gave me the biggest chills! ________________
Connect with Alyssa @alyssakuzins on Instagram.
Your 100th Episode Gift! BODY ART "thorns and roses" 90 minute embodied dance writing workshop to somaticize the thorns and roses of life and life. alyssakuzins.com/roses
For Marcus's books, albums, the "self portrait" writing prompt PDF: alyssakuzins.com/marcus-amaker
Got a minute? Give SCS a 5 star rating!
Got 5 minutes? Write SCS a stellar review to get the word out!
Deepest gratitude for listening and sharing, friends!
Connect with Alyssa: Instagram http://www.instagram.com/alyssakuzins
Advertising Inquires: email [email protected]
Previous Episode
Girlhood to Womanhood and Owning Your Voice with Aija Mayrock
Aija Mayrock was a young girl with a speech impediment who was bullied, even told to “kill herself,” but now she’s a 25 year old spoken word poet who has shared her words with over four million people. Aija is a humble soul who is sharing the experience of girlhood to womanhood and finding your voice with her latest book, Dear Girl. We talk about vulnerabilty breeding vulnerabilty, and about the power of not just having a voice, but using your voice. Writing became her outlet for safe expression when speaking up failed her, but as an adult, she’s taking her power back by speaking up and sharing the truth of her written word. We talk the power of embodied words, why she chose the term “girl” versus woman in her book title, and how you can be afraid and do it anyways. We also discuss how we tend to blame ourselves or avoid asking for help because we assume that we must be doing something wrong. She talks about how she broke that cycle, and we discuss healing the little girl in all of us. Finally, we talk beauty privilege and self care as allowing yourself to grow. And about halfway through the episode, Aija shares a piece called “Wounds Like Crowned Jewels” that had me smirking up a storm!
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Connect with Alyssa @alyssakuzins on Instagram.
For Aija's book and show notes head to alyssakuzins.com/aija-mayrock
Got a minute? Give SCS a 5 star rating!
Got 5 minutes? Write SCS a stellar review to get the word out!
Deepest gratitude for listening and sharing, friends!
Connect with Alyssa: Instagram http://www.instagram.com/alyssakuzins
Advertising Inquires: email [email protected]
Next Episode
![undefined - Full Spectrum Healing and Hindsight with Alyssa and Brad [Finale]](https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/episode_images/ac85e668da348edadf5944e2b47ebb1447e7f5db063fd803256627f47f75123c.avif)
Full Spectrum Healing and Hindsight with Alyssa and Brad [Finale]
For the season finale, I brought Brad onto the show to give you a life update, chat our biggest life perspective shifts, and talk about our healing journey as individuals and as a couple since his brain injury cycling accident. We talk about moving forward WITH the experience versus moving on FROM the experience. I ask Brad how it feels to have a second chance at life and how his perspective changed from feeling punished to feeling blessed. It's about time + consciousness, not just sitting around idly waiting for "time to heal all wound." Brad talks about his patience level as one of his biggest changes, as he used to feel very restless, impatient and always feeling he has to be further ahead. He talks about his new appreciation of stillness and presence, whereas before, meditation was never interesting. I ask him if he feels content with life and I answer the same. We talk about how much we radically feel like ourselves now that we're on other side of so much pain and FINALLY in our own home again after 8 months of living in his parent's basement apartment to aid in his physical recovery. That brings up the different kinds of healing: physical, spiritual, emotional/mental and the power of our environment over our willpower and motivation. We discuss how/when we realized that the majority of his physical healing was done and that our emotional/spiritual healing needed to take a front seat, which meant we needed to move out of his parents. We squeal about our new apartment and how much we radically feel like ourselves and a husband and wife again after losing that intimate connection. We of course talk about my 2022 book and how I feel more peace and acceptance around the fact that his voice has changed. We conclude with the difference between "why did this happen to ME?" versus "WHY did this happen to me?"
Thank you for a beautiful season 6 - this episode feels full circle and I so look forward to the fall season!
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Your 100th Episode Gift! BODY ART "thorns and roses" 90 minute embodied dance writing workshop to somaticize the thorns and roses of life and life. alyssakuzins.com/roses
To check out the BODY ART MEMBERSHIP + AMBASSADORSHIP head here.
Got a minute? Give SCS a 5 star rating!
Got 5 minutes? Write SCS a stellar review to get the word out!
Deepest gratitude for listening and sharing, friends!
Connect with Alyssa: Instagram http://www.instagram.com/alyssakuzins
Advertising Inquires: email [email protected]
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