Humanitou: Exploring Humanness + Creativity

In this short solo episode (ep 132), Adam Williams shares the pure gold of what we've been looking for and a way to get there, amid his reflections on Maya Angelou's line, " Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better."  Read and listen to more at humanitou.com .

In this short solo episode (ep 131), Adam Williams shares a creative life practice he calls his Log Book of Doings (and other thoughts and practices). It's a practice of presence, accomplishment and motivation. Read and listen to more at humanitou.com .

In this short solo episode (ep 130), Adam Williams digs into why he shares what he creates as a writer, artist, podcaster and so on, even when no one is asking him to. He explores the value of being vulnerable over and over, and facing down the fear. Read and listen to more at humanitou.com .

In this short solo episode, Adam Williams explores the mind-bogglingness of the Universe and our human arrogance to think it gives a fuck about what we give a foolish fuck about.  He wades into our relatively insignificant places as humans in the vast universe and considers what our true significance actually can be. Bonus: Do you know the distance of a light-year? How many light-years across the...

In this ultra-short solo episode, Adam Williams shares "a poem from somewhere, for whomever needs it." For anyone who knows feelings of loneliness, anxiety and depression, this short poem, "Spark Cloaked But Burning," is one of compassion and solidarity. Read and listen to more at humanitou.com .  _____ All things podcast creation and publishing by Adam Williams ( humanitou.com ) Music by Joe John...

In this short solo episode, Adam Williams thinks about a worthy question: What is the impact we have on others, and is it the impact we intend to have? Essentially, "Do I give them energy or drain their energy?" He explores this question and practice as one of self-awareness and compassion. Read and listen to more at humanitou.com .  _____ All things podcast creation and publishing by Adam William...

In this short solo episode, Adam Williams stands at the intersection of creative intentions and oopses, where truth lies in the inexactitude of life. He explores the practice of listening to the intuitive and recognizing "when something artful this way comes." Read and listen to more at humanitou.com .  _____ All things podcast creation and publishing by Adam Williams ( humanitou.com ) Music by Jo...

In this short solo episode, Adam Williams shares a couple poetic examples of his awareness practices while on a trail hike. Read and listen to more at humanitou.com .  _____ All things podcast creation and publishing by Adam Williams ( humanitou.com ) Music by Joe Johnson   

In this short solo episode, Adam Williams sorts out some truths of being creative, like facing insecurities with courage and cultivating confidence. He cites Dutch artist, curator and designer Erik Kessels' book "Failed It!" and reflects on Kessels' belief that insecurity is essential to confidence. Read and listen to more at humanitou.com .  _____ All things podcast creation by Adam Williams ( hu...

In this short solo episode, Adam Williams shares about his experience with the conflicting voices in his head, including Brené Brown's, Teddy Roosevelt's and his imagined critics', every time he creates as a writer, poet, artist, podcaster ... whatever the creative medium. Read and listen to more at humanitou.com , where you also can see two artworks Adam made to go with this episode's show notes...

Humanitou is dead, long live Humanitou. After an 18-month hiatus, Adam Williams is back with the Humanitou podcast. In this short solo episode, he tells what was going on during that time and about the lifeline that drew him back to the light. Transcript and show notes are at humanitou.com . _____ Music by Joe Johnson Host, producer and all things podcast by Adam Williams ( humanitou.com )

The Humanitou podcast dives into what it means to be human, creative and authentic. In this podcast, the writer, poet, artist and photographer Adam Williams explores creative and big life questions, the things he thinks he knows, and where those ideas fall apart, too. The podcast features short solo episodes by Adam and longer conversations he has with fellow creatives and thinkers. _____ Music by...

Lucas Cullen is the founder of Struggle Creates Strength, a mental health advocacy organization based in British Columbia, Canada. He’s also a podcaster, a traveler and a former semi-pro hockey player.  In this conversation, Lucas and I talk about the power of story, of sharing our stories vulnerably and courageously and even publicly, so that they can help others. He  shares his own story of ment...

James McCrae is a poet, a meme artist, and the author of the book, Sh#t Your Ego Says . Naturally, t his conversation dives into James' thoughts on the ego. We also talk about karma, existential crisis and ayahuasca, poetry and meme artistry, which James is convinced is the most potent and powerful art form of our times.  In fact, he has a new book coming out through Thought Catalog later this yea...

Yassine Diboun is a professional ultramarathon trail runner, coach and entrepreneur (Wy'east Wolfpack) in Portland, Ore. He's also nearly 17 years sober. In this conversation, w e talk about Yassine's story of addiction, which started at a really early age. And we talk about sobriety. Serious topics no doubt. But we have some good laughs along the way too. We also talk about Yassine's transformati...

In this solo episode, Adam Williams kicks off an occasional series called “A Poet Was There.” Adam reads his poem, "I Want Poets," which is his kernel of inspiration for the series, praising  poets as essential truth tellers, the ones who are most equipped to help us understand the human experience -- our own and others’ -- more fully. In this episode, Adam tells the what, why and how of "A Poet W...

Victoria Stracke is the curator and publisher of "The Last Hundred Miles: The Diary of Larry Waite." And she has remained anonymous in that role. Until now.  Larry was a gay man who grew up in the Midwest during the 1950s and 60s. He prolifically documented his life for more than 30 years, with intimate and sometimes brutal, raw honesty. Those diaries ended up in Victoria's hands. I n this convers...

Isabelle Gelot,  a French illustrator and designer, and the heart of Isatopia , has shifted, at least for the time being, from a world traveling, semi-nomadic flow of life to one of home renovation and growing a vegetable garden, from light-filled cultural capitals to small-town life in Maine. We talk about this new kind of adventure and the phases of life, the gift -- and sometimes burden -- of c...

Imi Lo is a psychotherapist, art therapist, and consultant for emotionally intense and highly sensitive people. She is the founder of Eggshell Transformations and author of the book Emotional Sensitivity and Intensity . In this conversation, we talk about Imi's turbulent childhood in Hong Kong and the false safety of conformity. We talk about grieving who we're not, and learning about and embracin...

Adam Williams, creator of Humanitou, goes it alone in this episode and shares one of his simplest, most private practices for breaking away from conformity: mismatching his socks. He's been doing it for years, and has been influencing his two sons in doing it, too. Frivolous and weird? Maybe. Shockingly empowering and profound? Could be. Listen to Adam lay out his reasoning and, well, advocate for...

Rukmini Poddar is an artist and illustrator who describes herself as an essence seeker. She believes in the value of imperfect work, prizes quantity as a means of getting to quality, and sees art making as an act of revolutionary love.  We talk about her growing up in a community of Hare Krishnas, expressing her dharma through art, the relationship of spirituality and creativity, her enthusiasm fo...

Savannalore is an artist, writer, "creative hype-woman," and "bad art" advocate in Austin, Texas. In this conversation, we talk about  why she makes art that she calls "beautiful trash," and how it’s been a process for overcoming a life of conformity and perfectionism. We talk about blowing up on TikTok and how she handles haters. We dig into impostor syndrome and how comparison is the killer of j...

Big Samir, the bilingual lyricist and emcee of The Reminders, grew up in Belgium and the Congo, and in a single-mother home with the images of MLK, Jr., Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X on the wall. We talk about his rising above the challenges of his youth, and the empowering and loving messages of The Reminders. We talk about The Reminders sharing stages with some of Samir's influences, like Snoop Do...

Ruben Rojas is a muralist, poet and activist who was on a path to becoming an orthopedic surgeon, then left it behind for big money in the real estate game -- and then lost everything. In this conversation, we talk about that hero's journey, the ups and downs, building up again from bankruptcy and, ultimately, becoming known throughout L.A. and far beyond as an artist who inspires others to live t...

Steven Pressfield is the best-selling author of The War of Art, The Artist's Journey, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Gates of Fire and, his newest novel, which was published earlier this month, A Man at Arms. In this conversation, we talk about Resistance with a capital-R, that diabolical enemy within each of us that tries to keep us from connecting with our highest Self (and each other). We talk fea...