The Creative Process · Arts, Culture & Society: Books, Film, Music, TV, Art, Writing, Creativity, Education, Environment, Theatre, Dance, LGBTQ, Climate Change, Social Justice, Spirituality, Feminism, Tech, Sustainability

Dr. Michael C. Nagel is a researcher and educator, and a leading voice in neurodevelopment at the University of the Sunshine Coast. He has spent his life studying human development and the relationship between technology, the brain and mental health. In his essential books, The Livewired Child and his new work, The Livewired Teen, he explores neuroplasticity, how our brains are literally physically constructed by the environments we inhabit. And he has taken this science out of the lab and directly into the schools, advocating for a radical rethinking of modern education. But his work is not just about children, it's about all of us. It's about how we develop our personalities in a technological age. It's about the absolute necessity of the natural world for our cognitive health, how we nurture our imaginations, relationships and individuality. How do we foster critical thinking when algorithms do the thinking for us? As we face a critical threshold, how do we hold onto a sense of play, curiosity and what makes us human?
“So all the stuff that we can gather, the information, it's all wonderful, it can be very helpful, but we don't live a disembodied experience. Our lives are not curated by the data we collect. Our lives are a product of the experiences we have with real people in real time. I think we devalue the beauty of humanity and the capacity for human beings to create and generate so many things of their own volition. I also think that when you create a world where so many things are happening around you and you cannot keep up, that's a great precursor, particularly for children, for stress.”
(0:00) Our Lives Are Not Curated by the Data We Collect
(2:36) The Tech Displacement
(4:22) The Echo Chamber
(9:55) Working Through Adversity
(15:12) The Despair of Social Media
(19:20) The Livewired Child, A Reading
(42:12) Multilingualism & Empathy
(46:43) Nature's Medicinal Effect
(54:55) The Intimacy Illusion
(58:20) The Eulogy Virtues
(1:03:20) A Return to the Classics
(1:07:14) The Gratitude Walk
(1:13:21) The Courage to Live the Life You Want to Live
Episode Website
www.creativeprocess.info/pod
Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

“ So that's what I would love for people to see and to realize is that nature is so incredibly beautiful and diverse. And so are we.”
Today, we’re looking at how the landscapes of our childhood shape the way we see the world. We explore memory, nature, and attunement to the present moment with composer Max Richter and writer and biologist David George Haskell. We’re joined by authors Kristin Ohlson and Dan Werb who revisit the freedom of youth. Novelist Amitav Ghosh shares his sensory his experiences of Calcutta. Writer and musician Eiren Caffall reflects on finding hope and living with illness, while circular economy designer Claire Potter reflects on the living world and the art of noticing.
(0:00) MAX RICHTER (Award-winning Composer & Pianist) A Continuous Stream of Music
(1:55) CLAIRE POTTER (Circular Economy Designer) Protecting What You Love
(3:55) EIREN CAFFALL (Writer & Musician) A Legacy of Generational Knowledge
(7:40) AMITAV GHOSH (Award-winning Novelist, Ghost-Eye) Sensory Discovery and Food
(9:31) DAVID GEORGE HASKELL (Biologist, The Songs of Trees) Stories to Tell the Future
(10:58) KRISTIN OHLSON (Author, The Soil Will Save Us) Learning the Power of Observation Through a Free Range Childhood
(12:42) DAN WERB (Epidemiologist & Author, Our Wild Familiars) The Undertow of the Pacific
To hear more from each guest, listen to their full interviews.
Episode Website
www.creativeprocess.info/pod
Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

"We need to learn from the animals how to live more gently, consume less and look out for each other in this great circle of life.":
Our shared moment in time reminds us that we are one part of a vast ecosystem. Today, we explore how humanity can live in harmony with the Earth by paying attention to the land and lives of animals around us. We listen to those who translate the voices of the living world: authors Yann Martel, Georgi Gospodinov, Chiara Barzini, Erica Berry, Kristin Ohlson, Helen Whybrow, screenwriter-director Caroline Thompson and Existential Therapist Emmy van Deurzen. We reflect on our changing environment with Nobel Peace Prize-winning climate scientist Kevin Trenberth, soil expert David Montgomery, restoration ecologist Tom Crowther, wetlands conservationist Jane Madgwick, Scientist Rebellion co-founder Tim Hewlett, architect and urban designer Carlo Ratti. And Ingrid Newkirk reminds us that our survival directly depends on the health of the natural world.
(0:00) Ingrid Newkirk (Co-Founder, PETA) Chiara Barzini (Author of Aqua) (3:41) Erica Berry (5:07) Yann Martel (Author, Son of Nobody) (6:20) Georgi Gospodinov (Author, Time Shelter) (7:39) Emmy van Deurzen (Therapist) (9:08) Jane Madgwick (Ecologist) (10:29) Caroline Thompson (Screenwriter) (13:00) Helen Whybrow (Author, The Salt Stones) (14:11) Tom Crowther (Founder, Restor) (14:56) Kristin Ohlson (16:10) Tim Hewlett (17:54) Kevin Trenberth (20:10) Carlo Ratti (Architect) (21:59) David Montgomery
To hear more from each guest, listen to their full interviews https://www.creativeprocess.info/pod
https://www.creativeprocess.info/interviews-featured/anth-circle-life

“As a psychotherapist, I've worked with thousands of people over my 53 years of practice, and I have had to learn to love each and every one of them. There is something about opening your heart and stopping judging and arguing, and listening again, inquiring until you find what is most lovable about another person, and that is a very difficult thing to do. We're all inclined to reject one another, even the people we love. It is very difficult to systematically seek to accord the other respect, your attention, your care, your capacity for appreciating and valuing what is good in them and what is possible for them in the future.”
Emmy van Deurzen is a philosopher, a therapist and a pioneer who has spent five decades mapping the architecture of human existence. Born in the Netherlands and trained in the radical psychiatric wards of France, she came to London in 1977 to work alongside R.D. Laing, only to realize the anti-psychiatry movement had kind of lost its way. She decided to build something new. Today, she's the founder of the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling and the leading voice of existential therapy in the United Kingdom and founded the Existential Movement.
Her work challenges the medical model of mental illness, suggesting instead that our crises are not diseases to be cured but philosophical crossroads to be understood. Her latest book is a distillation of that life's work. Beginning To Live: The Art of Existential Freedom is her first book written for a general audience, offering a guide on how to reclaim our freedom and find meaning in the face of suffering. Emmy van Deurzen, welcome to The Creative Process.
(0:00) The Art of Psychotherapy
(1:39) AI and Artificial Wisdom
(5:40) Practicing Freedom
(8:06) Finding Inner Peace Amidst the Ruins
(16:19) The Yellow Balloon
(22:36) Freedom and the Confrontation with Death
(25:31) Multilingual Roots, Language and Translation
(32:03) The End of One Love, The Beginning of a Love of the Arts
(37:20) The Art of Loving
(45:17) The Canvas of Life
(48:24) The Purified Essence
(1:01:10) The AI Dependency and the Future of Loving
(1:10:22) Radical Psychiatry, R.D. Laing, and The Divided Self
(1:17:52) Awakening to Beauty
(1:24:38) The Art of Living and Existential Freedom
Episode Website
www.creativeprocess.info/pod
Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

Emmy van Deurzen is a philosopher, a therapist and a pioneer who has spent five decades mapping the architecture of human existence. Born in the Netherlands and trained in the radical psychiatric wards of France, she came to London in 1977 to work alongside R.D. Laing, only to realize the anti-psychiatry movement had kind of lost its way. She decided to build something new. Today, she's the founder of the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling and the leading voice of existential therapy in the United Kingdom and founded the Existential Movement.
Her work challenges the medical model of mental illness, suggesting instead that our crises are not diseases to be cured but philosophical crossroads to be understood. Her latest book is a distillation of that life's work. Beginning To Live: The Art of Existential Freedom is her first book written for a general audience, offering a guide on how to reclaim our freedom and find meaning in the face of suffering. Emmy van Deurzen, welcome to The Creative Process.
(0:00) The Paths to Freedom
(2:03) Emmy Van Deurzen, Philosopher, Existential Therapist, Author
(3:13) AI and Artificial Wisdom
(5:03) Practicing Freedom
(7:00) Finding Inner Peace Amidst the Ruins
(8:39) The Yellow Balloon
(11:17) Multilingual Roots, Language and Translation
(13:31) The End of One Love, The Beginning of a Love of the Arts
(16:11) The Art of Loving
(17:30) The Canvas of Life
(20:20) The Purified Essence
(27:46) The AI Dependency
(30:09) Radical Psychiatry, R.D. Laing and The Divided Self
(33:48) Awakening to Beauty
(37:18) The Art of Living and Existential Freedom
Episode Website
www.creativeprocess.info/pod
Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast