Creative Spirit

Susyn Reeve is thrilled to be an Elder. With 40 years of experience as an organization development consultant and leadership development coach, she's the cocreator of self-esteem-experts.com and a best-selling author. Her books include The Wholehearted Life: Big Changes and Greater Happiness Week by Week and The Inspired Life: Unleashing Your Mind’s Capacity for Joy. Her new book, Heart-Healing: The Power of Forgiveness and Letting Go, will be released in the spring. In her second appearance on Creative Spirit, Susyn will give you lots of ideas for how to practice gratitude!

Rev. Lauren McLaughlin serves as cominister with her husband John at Unity Now, a spiritual awakening center on the internet. A former radio show host herself, Rev. Lauren is a speaker, teacher, and seminar presenter on the subject of focused attraction, and she facilitates women’s retreats throughout Florida. She is also the author of Go to ELF! and will explain how keeping focus on ELF (Eternal Life Force) helps her to stay grateful!

Polly Campbell is a motivational speaker and the author of three books: How to Live an Awesome Life; Imperfect Spirituality: Extraordinary Enlightenment for Ordinary People; and How to Reach Enlightenment. She is also a blogger at Psychology Today, Psych Central, The Huffington Post, The Creativity Post, and other sites. Her magazine articles on personal development topics and spiritual practices appear regularly in national publications. Polly has integrated the things she writes and talks about into her own life through practical experience—find out how she blends creativity and gratitude in this wonderful interview!

Stephen Dinan is the founder and CEO of The Shift Network, which delivers virtual summits, courses, and trainings featuring over 50 core faculty and 1,000 thought leaders in domains as diverse as spirituality, psychology, enlightened business and sustainability. Stephen is also the author of Sacred America, Sacred World: Fulfilling Our Mission in Service to All, which offers profound hope that America can grow beyond our current challenges and manifest our noblest destiny, rooted in sacred principles that transcend left or right political views. In an election cycle that has felt anxiety-provoking to people of all political persuasions, prepare to be inspired by this timely interview with Stephen!

Many of us pride ourselves on being "political thinkers," but few of us ever step into the political ring by running for election, be it local, state, or federal. Beth Krom has won six local elections and has served for almost 15 years on the Irvine, California, city council. In 2010 she ran valiantly, but unsuccessfully, for U.S. Congress. She continues to believe that we need more people with passion and intellect to be advocates and statesmen and run for public office. Regarded as a highly effective "community-builder," Beth will discuss how her creativity has provided unique tools for negotiating the complexity of political life.

Mary Anne Radmacher has been acting out of a compulsion for social justice since second grade. People know her as an artist, author, and trainer ... those closely familiar with her know that she is an activist for causes that pull at her heart. Activism is a response to specific circumstances … not a title she puts on her business card. Get more inspiration for how you can use your creativity in service to your ideals in this inspiring interview!

Kinda Hibrawi is an acclaimed artist who has worked on various projects with organizations including the U.S. State Department and UNICEF. She co-founded and helped develop Karam Foundation's Innovative Education programs and jointly ran these education programs every six months for displaced Syrian refugees on the Syrian-Turkish border until December 2015. Prior to that, she was recognized as an internationally known painter in Arabic Calligraphy, using her artwork to bring awareness to nonprofits in Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria and local charity work for children with cancer. A Syrian-American artist who grew up between Saudi Arabia, Syria, Bahrain, Lebanon, and the United States, Hibrawi’s original artwork is sought by collectors worldwide and is currently exhibited in group and solo shows across the U.S. Find out more about how creativity and politics can intertwine in this fascinating interview!

Rev. Matthew Fox is an internationally acclaimed spiritual theologian, episcopal priest, and activist who has devoted 45 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality. He has reinvented forms of education and worship, and awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. He has revivified awareness of Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Aquinas, and Thomas Merton, among other spiritual pioneers. He has authored more than 35 books on spirituality and contemporary culture, among them: Original Blessing, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, The Reinvention of Work, A Spirituality Named Compassion, and Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior for Our Times. His books, celebrated around the world, have been translated into 60 languages. We are so honored to conclude our look at Creativity and Meditation with him!

Lisa Sonora is an artist, author, and international workshop leader who wants to live in a world where everyone remembers that they are creative and that art-making is medicine. Originally trained as an art therapist, and a longtime student of meditation, Lisa brings a compassionate and contemplative approach to her teaching. Lisa makes her home in Oaxaca, Mexico, where she host artists' retreats and residencies. Her first book, The Creative Entrepreneur: A DIY Visual Guidebook for Making Business Ideas Real, launched a movement that has helped thousands to live their creative dreams ... find out how you can, too, in this uplifting interview!

Darren Main is a yoga and meditation instructor and author whose books include Yoga and the Path of the Urban Mystic, Spiritual Journeys Along the Yellow Brick Road, Inner Tranquility, The Yogi Entrepreneur, and Hearts and Minds: Talking to Christians about Homosexuality. Darren facilitates workshops and gives talks on yoga and modern spirituality throughout the United States and abroad. He is the host of the internationally syndicated podcast Inquire Within. He also teaches Yoga on the Labyrinth inside San Francisco’s iconic Grace Cathedral, which draws hundreds of people every week. Find out how Darren bridges his spiritual and creative practices in this insightful interview!

Speaker, author, award-winning Broadway and Off Broadway performer and composer, Freddie Weber writes and performs inspirational and spiritual songs in the jazz idiom. She studied A Course in Miracles with Marianne Williamson for 12 years, the works of Joel Goldsmith for eight years, and completed five levels of Tibetan Buddhism Shambhala Training. But her passion and life's work is now focused on "Being Here Now," having studied for the past 11 years with Eckhart Tolle. In this fascinating interview, find out how Freddie came to meditation and how it has shaped every aspect of her life, including her creativity!

A speaker, teacher, writer, and artist working at the convergence of self-care, spirituality, and self-expression, Mary Corrigan is also known as a "Creative Conspirator"—an inciter of whatever makes you come alive, an excavator of buried gifts and talents, a fresh breeze that fans the smoldering embers of abandoned creativity. In this wonderful interview, you'll learn how Mary created a life where she could fully be herself, and how her mentor Angeles Arrien inspired her along the way.  

Phil Cousineau was our first guest on Creative Spirit because he embodies the creative spirit as a true Renaissance man. An award-winning writer and filmmaker, teacher and editor, lecturer and travel leader, storyteller and PBS-TV host (Global Spirit), Phil's fascination with the art, literature, and history of culture has taken him on a worldwide search for what the ancients called the “soul of the world.” With more than 30 books and 15 scriptwriting credits to his name, the “omnipresent influence of myth in modern life” is a thread that runs through all of his work. Find out how Phil's mentor Joseph Campbell stoked this passion, and much more, in this fascinating interview!

Mike Robbins is the author of three books: Focus on the Good Stuff, Be Yourself, Everyone Else Is Already Taken, and Nothing Changes Until You Do. Through his speeches, seminars, and writing, Mike teaches people important techniques that allow them to be more grateful, appreciative, and authentic with others and themselves. In this insightful interview, you'll hear how his mentor, author Richard Carlson of the Don't Sweat the Small Stuff series, encouraged Mike to begin his fulfilling career.

Rev. Sheila Gautreaux is associate minister at Unity of Walnut Creek. She is the three-time published author of Praying Through a Storm, Messages, and The Long Journey Home. She also is a certified coach in the area of forgiveness and facilitates a wide variety of Radical Forgiveness (authored by Colin Tipping) workshops. Sheila is in demand as an exciting and innovative speaker who often adds her skills as a retired opera singer to her messages. Sheila tells how her mentor Marianne Williamson helped her to expand her own teaching of prayer in this inspiring interview.

San Francisco artist Weston Faison describes himself as a "painter, reader, family man, mediator, joker." He also had the privilege of taking painting retreats with artist Frederick Franck, known for his book The Zen of Seeing. Find out how Franck helped Faison to approach painting meditatively in this fascinating interview!

Patti Digh is the author of eight books ranging from diversity and inclusion to social justice and mindfulness. The author of the best-selling Life is a Verb, she is also the founder of The Art of Activism, which hosts online courses on issues such as racism, Islamophobia, transphobia, and other "isms." In the first year of her "Hard Conversations" course on racism, more than 4,000 people have participated. She is also the host of the Hard Conversations Book Club, which reads books each month about social justice and related issues like modern slavery, immigration, transgender and gender identity, sexism, racism, and more. You won't want to miss this provocative and inspiring interview!

Of Muskogee (Creek) heritage, Frank Menusan is a retired special education teacher with a master's degree from New York University. In addition, he is an interfaith minister, musician, flute maker, artist, writer, storyteller, and lecturer. Join us for this inspiring interview about Native American philosophy and spiritual practices and how we can use our own creative expression in service of social justice issues.

Jeffon Seely is a speaker, entrepreneur, community leader, author, and family man currently residing in Atlanta, Georgia. Standing upon Mahatma Gandhi’s message of “being the change he wishes to see,” Jeffon is committed to shining a light of hope, peace, and power into every environment he enters. On a mission to empower One Million Minds by the end of 2016, Jeffon has spoken with students, entrepreneurs, and spiritual communities across the nation. As a poet, Jeffon gives inspiring ideas for how to use one's creativity in the service of social justice. 

For decades,  Kerry Lee took of art classes of all kinds, but it wasn’t until she left the corporate world in January 2015, with six months of living expenses, that she stepped fully on her path. She knows her role on earth is to empower others to empower themselves to heal. She is a full-time Certified Intentional™ Creativity Teacher and Coach to empower our inner spirit and allow our authentic selves to shine. She partners with doTerra Essential Oils to teach how these “gifts of the earth” can empower us to care for our physical and emotional needs. Listen to this thought-provoking interview to learn how our personal symbols can serve as alchemists in your life too!