Expression Over Perfection

In this episode, Heather Doyle Fraser and I discuss bringing compassion to your creative practice, navigating the uncertainty of the creative process, connecting with permission, meeting the inner critic, and so much more. Heather Doyle Fraser is the Founder of The Compassionate Mind Collaborative, a publishing house dedicated to the principle of bringing compassion to the writing and publishing process. Her six-week program The Compassionate Writer helps support writers connect with their voice and the book within them. She is also the author of 40 Weeks: A Daily Journey of Inspiration and Abundance and the co-author of Freedom: How Teens Can Use Mindful Compassion to Thrive in a Chaotic World and Grow A Purpose-Driven Life. Connect with Heather: - The Compassionate Writer program starts April 4 - more info here - Heather's book: 40 Weeks: A Daily Journey of Inspiration and Abundance - Heather's book: Freedom - Heather's Instagram - Contact Heather

In this episode, Susan Kolodny and I discuss creativity, the difficulties of creative work, and how we can overcome our creative blocks. We also discuss how anxiety shows up in the creative process and how we can begin to make sense of our unconscious blocks. Susan Kolodny is a poet, writer, and a recently retired psychoanalyst and teacher. She is the author of two volumes of poetry, Preserve and After the Firestorm, as well as a book about creative work called The Captive Muse: On Creativity and Its Inhibition. The Captive Muse, and our conversation, proposes answers to these questions: Why is creative work often so difficult? What helps and what hinders us in doing it? What makes such work possible? Connect with Susan: - susankolodny.com - Susan's Books - Contact Susan Connect with Jesse here: - Instagram - Jesse's newsletter

In this episode, Dr. Stan Steindl and I discuss compassion, working with suffering, self-criticism, self-talk, the link between perfectionism and procrastination, and more. Dr. Stan Steindl is a clinical psychologist and director of the private practice Psychology Consultants in Brisbane, Australia. He’s also an adjunct associate professor at the School of Psychology at University of Queensland. He’s also the author of a new book called The Gifts Of Compassion: How to Understand and Overcome Suffering. Get Stan's new book here: The Gifts of Compassion by Stan Steindl Get the workbook here: The Gifts of Compassion Personal Practice Workbook "Stan Steindl takes us on a personal journey into the ups and downs of what it is to be human and reveals both the challenges and joys of building one's compassionate mind." - Paul Gilbert OBE, Founder of Compassion Focused Therapy *** Connect with Stan: - Stan's YouTube channel: "Compassion in a t-shirt" - Twitter - Instagram - Linktree Connect with Jesse here: - Instagram - Jesse's newsletter

Syanna Wand (@syannawand) is an Embodied Healing coach that specializes in compassionate, body-centered recovery from complex trauma and attachment wounds. If this is your first time being introduced to Syanna and her work, I’m honored to make this introduction. In this episode we cover many topics relating to the intersection of creative work, trauma, attachment, healing, the inner critic, and what it means to be human. This might seem like a disparate list, but they all relate back to some of the most fundamental themes of our personal and creative lives: safety, authenticity, and expression. Connect with Syanna here: instagram.com/syannawand syannawand.com Sign up to Syanna's newsletter here Connect with Jesse here: instagram.com/jesse.sussman Jesse's newsletter