The Syncreate Podcast: Empowering Creativity

In this installment of our Creative Spark series, Melinda shares the connection between creativity and meaning making. We can use our creativity in service of healing, integration and wholeness. This may involve paying attention to our dreams, and to messages from our unconscious, and then conveying them through a variety of creative media. This episode includes insights and prompts from our book,...

Reena Friedman Watts is the host of the Better Call Daddy podcast, which features guests from all walks of life with stories to share. She got her start chasing stories at the Jerry Springer Show, and worked for Court TV before starting her own show. We discuss storytelling, creativity, and the art of podcasting, as well as religion and spirituality, our relationships with our fathers, and more!  ...

In this installment of our Creative Spark mini-episodes, we discuss the art of giving and receiving feedback in the context of our creative work. It’s so important to ask for and receive feedback to polish our work into its final form. But sometimes this feedback can be hard to receive in the moment, or we may need to take some time to digest it before we can incorporate the feedback. Similarly, w...

Jimmy Johnny Juste leads groups and organizations through a process of conscious facilitation, helping them to resolve conflicts, navigate change, and embrace innovative solutions. At the core of his practice lies the liberation of self, employing diverse methods from somatic work to hypnosis and facilitative mediation. Facilitation, a transformative modality for meaning-making, empowers participa...

In this installment of our Creative Spark mini-episodes, we emphasize the importance of time management and prioritizing our creative work. Though we have a vision for a project, we may struggle with how to begin, or it may feel overwhelming. But if we break the process down into manageable goals, milestones, and tasks, we can move from start to finish with more ease. We may also have trouble prio...

Our guest today is Jennifer Leigh Selig, author of the new book Deep Memoir , and founder of Mandorla Books, an award-winning boutique publisher. Our conversation explores creativity and depth psychology, which examines the deeper questions of life, meaning, and purpose. We discuss the proverbial underworld journey, or dark night of the soul, and how we can make meaning of pain and suffering for t...

In this installment of our Creative Spark series of bite-size, mini-episodes, Melinda & Charlotte explore the distinctions between our creative practice, process, and products, and how this can help us in bringing our creative work into the world. When working with clients, we find it helpful to look at our creative work through each of these lenses. Our creative practice includes our workspac...

This episode is a co-release with From Illumination to Innovation Podcast (Episode 4) with Stephanie Crain and Shaniqua Brown, where I was a guest discussing creativity and leadership in organizational contexts, and how best to foster cultures of innovation. We discuss the Syncreate model of Play, Plan & Produce, as well as how companies that value creativity can truly nurture and support crea...

In this installment of our Creative Spark series of bite-size, mini-episodes, Melinda & Charlotte discuss the vulnerability of sharing work we know is not finished, but for which we need feedback in order to improve it. Sharing work before it feels complete can be a little scary, so it’s important to consider who we can trust for feedback to get the work where it needs to be. Then we can feel...

With a 40-year career in the toy and art supply industry, most recently as CEO at Faber-Castell USA, Jamie Gallagher brings a wealth of insight into how creative companies function. He is the founder of 4 the Win, which fosters creativity and innovation among individuals, teams, organizations and communities through four pillars of success: Purpose, Culture, Creativity, and Clarity. Drawing upon J...

In this installment of our Creative Spark series of bite-size, mini-episodes, Melinda & Charlotte discuss the importance of giving back to our creative communities. This could take the form of mentoring or guiding others, or just simply lending a helping hand with someone’s creative work or process. Helping others can also help us out of our own creative ruts. We might not think we have anythi...

Picking up where we left off in Part 1 ( Episode 34 ), we continue the conversation about creativity and transpersonal psychology with Marina Smirnova, Ph. D., head of the Consciousness, Spirituality, and Integrative Health specialization within the Humanistic Psychology program at Saybrook University, and a professor of transpersonal psychology, or the psychology of spirituality. We explore quest...

In this episode of our Creative Spark series, we explore the creative call to adventure and subsequent journey through the wilderness. We often start our creative projects with a sense of inspiration and excitement, only to flounder along the way, or plunge into self-doubt. Never fear - this is actually part of the process, and if we can learn to navigate this wilderness, our work can actually ben...

Where do our creative ideas and inspirations come from? For many of us, our creativity is deeply intertwined with questions of meaning, consciousness, and spirituality. Our guest today is Marina Smirnova, Ph. D., head of the Consciousness, Spirituality, and Integrative Health specialization within the Humanistic Psychology program at Saybrook University, and a professor of transpersonal psychology...

 In this episode of our Creative Spark series, Melinda and Charlotte emphasize the importance of creative incubation, and of stepping away from our work at key moments in order to gain the perspective to move forward in a productive way. This is not the same as procrastination or avoidance; it is a strategic move in the creative process that allows us to return to the work with fresh eyes. This ep...

How does synchronicity shape a creative life? In this episode, we explore how a shared connection, a chance meeting, or a risk taken can lead to opportunities we may never have imagined possible. Our guest is Dr. Steven Pritzker, Co-Editor of the The Encyclopedia of Creativity , Professor of Creativity Studies at Saybrook University, and a renowned television writer for Emmy-winning shows Room 222...

In this episode of our Creative Spark series, Melinda and Charlotte discuss the power of collaboration. It’s in our name, Syncreate: synergy and co-creation. We can accomplish so much more through collaboration than we can on our own. We describe own experiences of collaboration, and how you can harness the power of collaboration in your own creative work. This episode, like the mini-episodes that...

Ben Thoma and Brian Thompson are the Co-Founders of Creative Mornings Austin, a local chapter of Creative Mornings, a monthly creative gathering in cities around the world. Described as “church for creatives,” Creative Mornings includes coffee and breakfast, a musical guest, and a presentation by a member of the local community, in a different location each month. The mantra of Creative Mornings A...

In this episode of our Creative Spark series, Melinda and Charlotte describe the process of iteration, where we revise, refine, rehearse, and otherwise fine-tune and polish up our creative work to bring it to completion. Sometimes iteration requires radical cutting, editing, and reworking. We liken this process to pruning, which actually allows a tree or bush to grow and thrive more fully. It can...

How do we move from healing to wholeness in body, mind, and spirit? How can we communicate and create from a place of deep integrity? We explore these questions with podcaster, workshop facilitator & former NFL player Eben Britton. After 7 years in the NFL, Eben has embarked on a journey of healing and wellness, which he shares via his podcast, workshops, and retreats. His work includes restor...

Collaboration is vital for getting things done, for innovation, and for solving complex problems. But do we really understand collaboration, and what distinguishes it from coordination, cooperation, and even teamwork? According to our current guest, Randy Langford, collaboration involves people in community using communication to express their needs, and offer resources to support one another, for...

In this episode of our Creative Spark series, Melinda and Charlotte describe the final phase of the creative process: Produce. In this phase, according to our Syncreate model, we move toward completion of our creative work. This is where we refine, iterate, polish, get feedback, and ultimately share our creative efforts with the world. It’s also where we celebrate and give back to our creative com...

What distinguishes creativity from other modes of thinking and being? How do we understand creativity from a neuroscientific perspective, and how do psychedelics affect creativity? We explore these questions with Bradley Cooke, Ph. D., a neuroscientist and Program Director at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Cooke oversees the nation's portfolio of research into the neurobiology o...

In this episode of our Creative Spark series, Melinda and Charlotte describe the Plan, or organizational, phase of the creative process. The word “plan” might not immediately come to mind when we think about creativity, but planning and organization are actually vital to bringing a creative idea to the world. We discuss how convergent and divergent thinking figure into the creative process, as wel...

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, this episode explores the archetypes, personas, and roles we embody in our work life and beyond, beginning with the archetype of The Lovers. My guest is The Corporate Mystic, Stephanie Crain, an Austin-based leadership/ ethos coach and innovation consultant. She’s the founder of Tapas Innovation, and a Certified Master Jungian Coach with a Success Mindset speciali...