The Artist & Depression: An Interview with Matthew Perryman Jones

I’m beyond excited to share today’s podcast interview with you. Several weeks back, I sat down with Matthew Perryman Jones, one of the most truly gifted artists I know. As happens every time we connect, our conversation trailed off into distant fascinating lands and two and a half hours later, time’s up and I realize I’ve got some serious editing to do (which was really hard because every bit of our conversation was so valuable!)

Not only am I eager to share his story today, I’m blown away by the application it has for you and I, no matter if you’re an artist OR struggle with any shade of depression.

MPJ is one of my absolute favorite singer/songwriters. I love what American Songwriter Magazine wrote about him regarding his writing and song “Land of the Living,” which was featured in Oscar nominated film Manchester By the Sea’s official trailer. (Featured on the podcast.)

“MPJ’s songwriting acumen could easily be used as a musical template to demonstrate how less can be so much more. Land of the Living sounds cinematic and slowly worms its way inside your brain, feasts upon your emotions, and ultimately burrows down into your soul. It could be said that Matthew makes soul music — not based on how it sounds, but on where it originates and where it resides.”

I’ve always connected so deeply with his songs, and perhaps more importantly, his voice. However, his voice, as you will learn, did not come without a price. His journey’s been wrought with depression, anxiety, and at times, sheer panic and paranoia.

Today, he shares openly and vulnerably about those painful seasons and how he came to make peace with them, finding his voice along the way.

Please have a listen and sit with his story. It’s a redemption story—one that lends wisdom and clarity to our journey and all those painful questions along the way.

Also, if you haven’t already, check out his music! I look forward to having him back on the podcast to talk more about it as well as the writing process in general.

Love & Gratitude,

Katie

xoxo

{Video} Finding Your Voice (and an exciting announcement!)

“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.”

-Rainer Maria Rilke

Sacred

One of my favorite things about music, and songs for that matter, is they help us access deep places of emotion mere words and conversation can’t touch. Melody, lyrics, and rhythm transport us to places we can’t analytically conjure up off the bat. It’s sacred, it’s cathartic, it’s inexplicable at times.

MPJ

Songs and the writers behind them are an invaluable gifts to our human experience. In step with this,  I’m thrilled to announce my upcoming podcast interview with the incomparable Matthew Perryman Jones. Of any singer/songwriter, Matthew has this downright uncanny ability to make me feel my feelings. I can’t run from the truth in his music.  His voice cuts straight to my core every time I hear it. Matthew’s truly a master of his craft, yet a humble one, as his journey’s been marked by crippling emotional pain and loss at times along the way.

Podcast

Part of the reason I started a podcast, (besides the fact that they are all I listen to these days!), is to bring to light the unexpected stories of great men and women we see crushing it in their field, whether creatives, humanitarians, writers, and innovators.

As you may know, It can be misleading if not discouraging to see these trailblazers on their public platforms, (especially social media), and assume they’ve lived a charmed life. Well, perhaps a few have, however, as I get to know these stories, so many have fought hard to get where they are and stand in their place of influence. I want to know how they’ve done it as this always seems to prop me up when I feel discouraged in my own journey of finding voice.

Enneagram

I can’t wait to bring you my conversation with Matthew. I believe so many of you will relate to his struggles, especially in terms of depression and anxiety. He’s a prolific poet, and singer’s singer, and a heart that bleeds kindness and compassion to everyone he meets. He’s also a 4w5 for you fellow enneagram nerds out there and describes how tool has helped in his overall emotional and spiritual journey.

If you want to get a head start on this very special podcast, check out Matthew’s work. Your soul will find a steady companion, one you’ll quickly realize isn’t going anywhere. Stay tuned!

Love & Gratitude,

Katie

xoxo

Where is Your Happy Place?

“Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe.”
-Anatole France

You’ve arrived

Where are you? What are the smells, the sounds, the landscape, the energy, and the people like? What emotions rise like a hot air balloon in your chest, slowly filling up with the gust of anticipation, of fun? What is the relationship that you have with this place? I bet it’s a very happy place, indeed.

Switcheroo

I get stuck. This happens about once every three months if I don’t give my surroundings a little switcheroo. Call it boredom, call it a shiny thing withdrawal, call it ADHD, call it whatever you will—but it’s true. As a result, I’ve learned it’s super important to intentionally seek out our happy places as often as possible, so we don’t get forgetful and lose perspective of the vast, diverse world we hold citizenship in.

Homebody

Perhaps you are thinking to yourself, “But I don’t need to go find my happy place, I’m a homebody, and my happy place is on the couch.” Okay, fair enough. We can dance theoretically here if you want. So, the couch is really your happy place; that’s awesome. However, if you’ve gotten comfortably numb while glued to Season 5 of House of Cards (guilty), and forgot what inspired feels like in your bones, it may be time to move around a little bit.

Don’t get me wrong, I love being at home. I love routine and ritual and rest…all those “r” words.  The older I get, I consider myself a homebody more and more. I love the control of it all, however, I can easily slip into the rut of complacency and self absorption, thinking the rest of the planet shares a striking resemblance to me.  Thankfully, it doesn’t!

New York

(One) of my happy places is New York City. I just got back from a week there to celebrate my birthday and do some much anticipated Brainspotting with the developer, Dr. David Grand. My nerd and city girl  were both fully satisfied, and It was glorious.  That said, I’ve very grateful.

When I conjure up my happy place, here’s what I envision:

I smell the steamy wafts of street vendors and food trucks hustling their curried meats, freshly baked pretzels, and savory egg and cheese sandwiches. I hear a slew of foreign languages fighting across streets to be heard; some bickering, some joking, and some sharing the latest juicy office gossip. I hear the bleating horns of cabs and the soulful strains of a singer- songwriter covering a Beatles tune in Central Park.

I see stunning, impossibly thin models smoking cigs and downing green juice on their way to a shoot.  In the same glance, the finance guys head back to Wall St. in their fitted John Varvatos and shiny watches after lunch. They’re shamelessly checking out the models.

All of it

The dreamy parks of the West Village teem with young dads swinging their kids and lovely older married couples drinking cappuccinos as they read the Times. They’ve seen a thing or two. Cafe owners fling wide their french doors and water the poppy colored pansies in the flower boxes. They thoughtfully write out the nights specials on a chalkboard and do a quick tasting of the night’s featured wines with a tiny, well-versed staff.

It’s the quirky innovation of the Highline, the classic majesty of Central Park, the edgy grit of Tribecca, the polished panache of the Upper West Side, the sweaty stench of the subway, the esteemed fashion houses of Soho, and the sprawling boldness of Brooklyn. All of it makes me intensely happy.

Faces of God

As you may gather, the City lights me up. Sure, there are other cities I adore, however, not many cities lend this visceral gift of inspiration and pulsing energy. It’s constant, messy, creative, gorgeous, exhausting, delicious…it’s life.
One of the many reasons this is my happy place is I see so many beautifully diverse faces of God. By this I mean, I’m reminded that God is pure love and creativity, and thus far bigger and better than we can possibly fit into a box.
My world shrinks up if I don’t intentionally commit to a bit of wandering. Wandering reminds me there’s an insane amount of life out there and it doesn’t look just like me. When I am in my happy place, It’s impossible NOT to see the bigger picture.

Zoom out.

If we take a wide-lens camera and zoom out really far, I think the overall footprint is love. It’s far more recognizable than hate, though hate desperately fights to be seen and heard. So, this is my invitation to you: go find the place that reminds you of life’s brilliant color, possibility, and love. You don’t have to get on a plane or spend a bunch of money. However, you may need to wander off the familiar path (or couch). Where is your happy place? Is it the ocean? The mountains?  Perhaps your the park down the street.  Whatever that place is, I’d love to know all about it…

Love & Gratitude,

katie

xoxo

The Enneagram Unveiled: An Interview with Ian Cron

Hi Friends!

Today is huge. I’m bringing you a podcast interview with the incomparable, Ian Cron. Ian is an award winning songwriter, author, priest, therapist, and teacher who recently co-authored a book called, The Road Back to You: Looking at Life through the Lens of the Enneagram. It’s the perfect companion for wherever you find yourself on the enneagram journey and I can’t wait for you to check it out.

Enneagram

If you are interested in learning more about the enneagram and other resources coming your way very soon, click here. It is such a powerful resource that helps unlock our truest, most essential selves and I’d love your company journeying deeper into its truth.

Online Quiz

For now, I know you will really enjoy this honest, intimate, (and funny!) conversation about all things enneagram. No matter what your current grasp of it is, this will be a delightful addition to your enneagram experience. Also, If you’d like to take Ian’s free online type indicator quiz, click here!

Love & Gratitude,

Katie

xoxo

P.S. Mark your calendars for my very first Enneagram Workshop on Saturday, June 10th 1-5pm at BuzzPlant in lovely downtown Franklin.  Much more on that soon!

A Divine Detox

It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up.
-Eckhart Tolle

Lent

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the day after Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, and the first day of Lent, a religious observance for many liturgical church traditions.  People are always surprised to learn that Mardi Gras actually started in my hometown of Mobile, AL, not in the famed, bluesy streets of New Orleans.

Jester

Growing up, I had friends who were steeped in the Old South decorum of Mardi Gras. Their dads would dress up in these ridiculous jester costumes and their kitchens overflowed with King Cakes, trash bags full of cheap beaded necklaces and plastic loot for parades— oh and cocktails, there were cocktails for days, namely screwdrivers.

Barbies

I remember spending the night with one particular friend in fifth grade. We stayed up late with the babysitter until she was relieved of her duties by two staggering adults that smelled like booze and looked like tired, aging Barbies in very expensive ball attire.  It was the strangest thing in the world to me.

Our family never bought in.  We’d typically pile into a minivan and skip town, making a 32-hour trek to the magical Rocky Mountains of Colorado for a week of skiing.  (Yes, it was a jaunt. However we were mighty in number and flying got real expensive, real fast. Where’s the fun in that, anyway?)

Space

I always found this idea of Lent very curious.  Basically, like the season of Advent, Lent shares a focus on preparation— creating space in our hearts for what’s to come. Sure, people (often of the female variety) use Lent as an excuse to “give up” chocolate or carbs or what have you in an effort to de-bloat from the excess of the season.  To each his own.  In my observance though, this completely misses the mark and seems a bit self-serving.

Deeper

The tradition of “giving something up” for Lent is far more meaningful when the motive is connected to something greater than me or “I”.  It’s not a diet, it’s not a resolution, it’s not a contest.  I like to call it a Divine Detox; a spiritual cleansing of sorts. I desperately love rituals, and with each passing year,  my inner dork shines a bit brighter with all the bells and whistles I incorporate into my daily routine.  Lent presents this beautiful opportunity to tap into spiritually driven ritual and re-align with that which is unseen yet powerful beyond belief: Perfect Love.  I call that being God, some call it Universe, some call it “fishin’” as Brené Brown wryly recounts about her father.

Noise

Whatever your spiritual beliefs, I think we can all agree that we are far more than just physical beings.  I was reminded of this last week as I witnessed my niece’s grand entrance into this world.  We are spiritual beings through and through, (“spiritual” not “religious”) yet we spend most of our time on the surface, concerned with the physical, structural world.  I believe we do this because it’s the loudest, most overt part of life—the noise of it screams at us all day through portals of social media, consumerism, and materialistic pursuit.  There is obviously nothing wrong with the physical world…I’m in love with its beauty and energy.  However, if we aren’t tethered to something deeper, we dry up and lose touch with presence and purpose.

Detox

Any excuse to solidify truth through ritual is a no-brainer in my book.  In light of this, I want to honor this deeper constancy of spirit in our lives this week in a tangible way.  Creativity springs out of a place of stillness and nothing.  I want to spend less time reacting to noise and more time grounded in presence and possibility.  In celebration of our sacred spiritual selves, I invite you to join me in a bit of a detox.

Kale

Don’t worry, there’s no kale or cayenne pepper involved. (If that’s your thing though, by all means rock it.)  This is a week-long observance of the soul—a cleansing away of unnecessary noise that distracts us from connecting to the awareness of a Loving Presence in all things: in people, in situations, in work, in us.  It’s setting harsh judgement and criticism on the back burner for a minute to explore the life that flows out of their absence.  Our ego, or fear-driven imposters, can take a much needed vacation, those little guys have earned it!

The How

Every day this week, set an alarm on your phone or watch for three different times, perhaps breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  These little breaks can be anywhere from 1-5 minutes.  Make these short so you won’t blow them off.  Take this time to simply connect to the present moment through gratitude.  Write down what you’re grateful for and respond by saying thank you.  Breathe into that gratitude; seal it in.  It’s often much easier to capitalize on the negative and overlook the positive just as we tend to glaringly see our flaws instead of our strengths.  This week, we are going to intentionally look for love in everything and observe what, if anything shifts inside.  I firmly believe it does and will when we declutter our future fears and past grievances.

Bonus

If you’re feeling ambitious and want a bonus, identify something that’s a distracting force and set it aside for a week.  It can be negative self-talk, social media, Netflix, the scale, or video games—whatever creates extra noise and blocks connection.  Don’t worry, you can pick it back up in a matter of days, we’re just experimenting here. 

I’m stoked to hear from you on this so please please email me with some feedback.

Happy Cleansing!

Love & Gratitude,

Katie

xoxo