Creativity psychologist Kim Hermanson almost died in her 20s. After a brutal near-death, head-on collision, Kim was laid-out in the ICU when a nurse whispered for her to "imagine herself floating on a cloud," and she immediately felt the pain and trauma of the horrific ordeal leave her body. This completely shifted Kim's understanding of the power of our brains and completely shifted her path.

Since that experience, Kim has become a highly respected thought leader in the world of creativity psychology. Primarily, Kim's research and coaching are centered on METAPHOR, and how considering our work within that paradigm can completely open up our understanding of what we make, and more importantly, why we make it. Kim's work is interesting, provocative, and challenging, but I encourage you to open your mind and your heart, because it may fundamentally shift the way you see your creative life! 

2:33 - Accessing another way, shifting into a different way of being

4:20 - How a near death experience pushed Kim towards a creative path

8:23 - Finding metaphor by following what shows up

10:20 - How fascination led Kim to confidently follow her yearnings, even when it was hard

12:38 - Feeling our way through the world with metaphor as a deeper way of knowing

17:10 - How spirituality and a connection to the divine factors into our creative endeavors

19:00 - How science, in a way, backs up what spirituality reveals about creativity

20:45 - The depth, richness, and wisdom of the images and metaphors that speak to us throughout our lives

23:00 - Using metaphor to get unstuck by feeling into it

25:31 - We can only think what we already know, which can be limiting

27:35 - Hallucinogenic drugs and alternative ways of knowing 

28:30 - Working with form and structure in the creative

32:10 - How to work with non ordinary intelligence through metaphor

33:00 - The remembrance that you are not stuck because there is a whole other space available to us

33:55 - Practical ways to work through creative blocks by accessing metaphor 

42:40 - Using metaphor to tune back into a sense of self and a sense of wholeness

45:00 - The deep agency of creative work

47:00 - Embracing your full self, including your nerdiness 

 

Visit jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit to get instant access to a collection of audios that 

will help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,

falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s), 

and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.