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Holly Starley's avatar

Awww, I love Questlove’s take on creativity—the lack of hierarchy, the importance of defining what something isn’t. Thanks for this!

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Fred Lynch's avatar

This is post Memorial Day goodness! I love me some Questlove and I love Soul Boom! Beautiful combination

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Soul Boom's avatar

Aww, thank you that means so much 💥

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Brenda Massey's avatar

I just listened to this episode and I wanted to say thank you for the beautiful, vulnerable conversation around creativity and healing.

I've been on a journey of walking myself through grief since my husband died in 2019. When Questlove talked about the stages he went through in therapy (emptying the unresolved trauma, refilling and loving himself and recognizing, acknowledging and validating his dreams) something clicked for me.

I've been focused a lot on working through the first two, but after six years I have found myself feeling stuck about where I want to go from here with my life.

I realized, while listening to your discussion, that I haven't engaged in the third part of that journey - recognizing my dreams. I've been struggling and feeling stuck because all of the options I've been giving myself revolve around what other people might need or expect from me. I've fallen back into a place of wanting to be the one who fixes everything or who has all the answers in order to feel like I'm _____ enough.

Definitely going to practice talking to myself in the mirror and then me, myself and I are going to start dreaming. I too want to try to leave the world better than I found it, and, as Rainn said, "to rise to what I was created for."

Thank you. 💜

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Soul Boom's avatar

Reading this beautiful comment reminds us exactly why do this work. Thanks for coming on this journey with us and godspeed in this new phase of your journey.

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Dory Ingram's avatar

OK, I have to jump on this even before I listen to the podcast. My favorite quotation from this book excerpt that you have chosen is this: "I want to broaden the definition to include anyone who is making something out of nothing by virtue of their own ideas." And I want to broaden it further. As the artist George Seurat famously sings in the Sondheim musical "Sunday in the Park With George,"I have made a hat where there never was a hat." For me, creativity in its broadest sense is pure COMMUNICATION. Seurat communicates the idea of a hat using his particular skill and creativity. Here's another quote, this one from John Denver, who said, "I am not a great singer. I am a great communicator." The level of skill is subordinate to the passion of the communication.

And you ask what sparks creativity in my life? It's finding the niche where my particular skills and talents fit perfectly. Finding out what is needed and figuring out how supply it using my specific tools. I've referred to the wonderful movie "Hugo" at least twice before in Soul Boom dispatches. Hugo believes that everything, and by extension, EVERYONE has a purpose. There are no extra pieces. Everyone is good at something, and when we discover how perfectly that something fills the empty place in our universe, that is bliss, that is soul, that is everything.

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