Exploring Creativity: Threads & Bones

📝 Show Notes:

In this episode of Threads & Bones, I sit down with my brilliant niece Emma, a recent design school grad who bravely moved to London to kickstart her creative career. Our chat touches on everything from design philosophy, realising that studying what excites you is not a crazy idea, imposter syndrome, and what it means to live creatively, even when you're still putting down roots in a new city.

We *ahem* might’ve kept talking long after the mics were technically “off,” but I’ve captured some golden moments that I think you’ll love.

Here are the takeaways from today’s episode:

✨ Creativity isn’t just drawing “well” it’s a skill that can be built like a muscle. With intention and practice, creativity is open to everyone if they’re willing to put in some effort.

🛠️ Design has many meanings and for Emma, it’s where beautiful, aesthetically pleasing form meets function. Design brings a sense of order to her world and shows up throughout her life.

👀 Creative role models matter and seeing others live creatively helps you realise what's possible. Your creative life will rightfully be completely unique to you.

🌆 Inspiration is everywhere and London’s cultural richness is the perfect research lab. Spending time germinating while figuring out how to break into your “Big C” career keeps you in a creative mindset.

💬 Imposter syndrome is real and everybody experiences it but trust that your journey will unfold exactly as it’s supposed to. Back yourself. Always.

🔗 Links + Calls to Action:

* 💖 Check Out Emma’s Website

* 🌐 Subscribe to The Vibrancy Society

* 🍎 Follow & Review on Apple Podcasts

* 🎶 Leave a Comment on Spotify

* 🙏 Share the episode with a friend or someone finding their creative path

It’s time for another book review on creativity which this time is Wired To Create, Discover the 10 things great artists, writers and innovators do differently, by Scott Barry Kaufman & Caroline Gregoire.

The co-authors, an academic and a journalist, outline the ten often paradoxical habits and traits found in highly creative people. Creative minds are messy. They tend to be open and sensitive, imaginative and disciplined, playful and deeply introspective.

This book collates the massive amount of research surrounding creativity and distills it into the ten recurring traits that wire creative minds. A quarter of the book is the notes and references from each chapter!

After the introduction, I explore the ten chapters which each focus on one of the ten traits. Along the way there are quotes, stories of famous artists and thinkers and a few of my personal recollections.

Chapter Highlights

Imaginative Play is not just for kids, it sparks experimentation, innovation, and joy.

Passion’s deep, intrinsic motivation often keeps creatives going through the ups and downs.

Daydreaming? Just fall in love with your wandering mind already. Turns out, it’s doing important creative work behind the scenes.

Solitude allows creative thoughts to marinate and develop more deeply. Yes, alone time is good for you.

Intuition in the creative process is all about trusting your gut instincts and emotional insight.

Openness to Experience is the willingness to explore, be surprised, and embrace novelty.

Mindfulness (& meditation) allows being fully present for richer creative awareness even amidst our crazy chaotic lives.

Sensitivity shows up in creative folks as vulnerability, emotional depth and attunement to the world, often feeding powerful work.

Turning Adversity into Advantage channels many creatives’ struggles into fuel for expression and transformation.

Thinking Differently lets creatives see connections where others don’t, flipping the script on norms and assumptions.

This book is both a comfort and a nudge. It reminds us that creativity is definitely not a linear process. It’s messy, layered, and often contradictory.

Whether you’re a maker, thinker, feeler, or daydreamer, Wired to Create might help you understand (and appreciate) that being wired a little differently is often where the magic comes from.

🎧 Whether you live and breathe creativity or just want to peek inside the minds of those who do, you’ll want to hear this. Each chapter shows how the ten traits manifest and why they matter and how creatives see and move through the world.

Books & Resources Mentioned:

📖 Wired To Create by Scott Barry Kaufman & Caroline

🗺️ Glass Town the Brontë siblings’ paracosm

📝 Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSP) by Aron & Aron

📚 Big Magic / The House That Joy Built / Two Beats Ahead - my previous book reviews

💖 The Vibrancy Society to sign up for my newsletter

💬 What did this book stir in you? Any takeaways or Aha-s? Leave me a comment so we can continue the conversation!

⭐ Enjoyed the episode? Don’t forget to follow, leave a review, and share it with a fellow creative who needs a little inspiration!

In this solo "I Dibs the Front Seat" episode, ride along as I reflect on the creativity that blooms at music festivals (and how much fun people watching can be).

🎧 Show Notes

I talk about

🎤the wide range of musical artists from well known names to new discoveries

🪅the outfits that let people explore new sides of themselves

⛺️the playful ways folks set up their campsites

✨the magical moment when the sound from two stages fused into something entirely new.

🩰I also segue into some of the costumes I wore as a dancer because that’s just the way my brain works…

I think we can all agree that festivals aren’t just about music - they’re living, breathing creative spaces and offer a rare space where people feel free to experiment, play, and show up more boldly.

🤩Aren’t they fun?

🔗 Musical Artists Mentioned

California Honey Drops: https://cahoneydrops.com/

Don West: https://www.don-west.com/

Toto: https://totoofficial.com/

Vance Joy: https://www.vancejoy.com/

The Cat Empire: https://thecatempire.com/

🙏Thanks for joining me for this ride - and as always, if you’re enjoying the show, a follow and a review really help more folks find these creative conversations.

Sign up for my newsletter which includes notices of new podcast episodes here: The Vibrancy Society

Thanks for listening,

xBec

Clown car photo by Carol Highsmith's America on Unsplash

I’m thrilled to share my chat with Liesel Zink. If you listened to Episode 11 (Making Space, Staying Sane…) then you’ll know that I’m a participating as one of 89 performers in a large public-space work mid May (2025). Liesel is the choreographer of that piece, Us And All Of This, and is a delightful human being. I’ve had so much fun reinvestigating a bit of my past creative life through her lens and appreciated her willingness to be my guest.

Here are some of the things we covered in our convo:

🎙️ Episode Takeaways:

* Ever wondered what a dramaturge does? Liesel shares how she’s leaned on dramaturges to help clarify her voice and explains how the role connects the dance, the arts field, and the world we live in.

* Trained in contemporary dance, Liesel shifted toward expanding audiences and increasing community connection by bringing dance out of exclusive spaces and into shared public spaces.

* Public-space choreography allows audiences to engage with contemporary dance on their own terms keeping it relaxed, open, and accessible.

* In an increasingly busy world, Liesel realises the foundations of her creative process - deep listening and radical slowness - area a chance to invite people to re-ground and deepen their humanity.

* Being an independent artist means wearing many hats - but all those skills weave and thread back into life, community, and even cultural activism.

* Liesel’s engagement with her Ukrainian heritage is influenced by her creative practice and shows up through organising community celebrations and her “craftivism”, raising money for Ukraine through a crafters group.

* Her large-scale participatory work Us And All Of This builds true community through deep curiosity, care, and collaboration. While the positive impacts may be ephemeral and hard to measure they are deeply real and transformative.

✅ Links & Resources:

* 🌿 Follow & Follow Liesel: Instagram | Facebook | Website

* 🌅 Horizon Festival is who’s hosting the performance: horizonfestival.com.au

* 🎭 Performing Lines is the producer of Us And All of This: performinglines.org.au

* ✨ The Vibrancy Society how to find more of me: thevibrancysociety.com

* 🇺🇦 To Support Ukraine: Ukrainian Crisis Appeal is an Australian Organisation that has a long history of doing really important humanitarian work in Ukraine.

Or to help de-mine Ukraine: De-mine Ukraine this is a relatively new initiative.

In this episode, I reconnect with my longtime friend (and ex dancing buddy) Andy Noble to delve into his unique perspective on creativity. Our conversation spans his journey from a breakdancing teenager to a dance professor and choreographer, highlighting how his experiences have shaped his artistic vision and ideas on creativity.

We talk about the power of creative collaboration, why constraints fuel innovation, and his research into the intersection of dance, tech and neuroscience.

🕺Guest: Andy Noble – Dance professor, choreographer, co-director of NobleMotion Dance, and TedTalk presenter👀

🤔In This Episode We Explore:

* Early Influences: You might not feel creative as a kid if you're marinating in it with creatives all around you. However, what you experience will profoundly shape your artistic sensibilities.​

* The Power of Small Gestures: Andy’s music teacher inadvertently set him on his life’s path. Opening her classroom early not only provided him a sanctuary but exposed him to dance. Remember, minor actions can have lasting impacts.​

* Originality and Inspiration: Echoing Mark Twain's sentiment, Andy believes that most ideas are borrowed - and that’s not a bad thing. Creativity is remixing, honouring, enhancing, and making it your own.

* Constraints Fuel Creativity: Problem solving with whatever parameters the situation presents is key. Limitations can lead to powerful artistic expressions.

* Integrating Technology: For technology to enhance art, it must be woven into the creative process from the beginning, ensuring it complements rather than overshadows the human element.​

* Collaborative Creation: Andy emphasises the joy and value of collaboration and sees it as the heartbeat of good work. He enjoys working closely with his wife Dionne and their dancers but also with collaborators from other disciplines: musicians, neuroscientists, and set and lighting designers.

* Science Meets Art: Projects like "LiveWire" and "Meeting of Minds" showcase the exciting fusion of dance and neuroscience, exploring how movement can inform our understanding of the brain.​

* Dance and the Brain: Andy advocates for recognising dance as a neurologically complex activity. Through his TedTalk, "Neuroscience Worth Dancing About" he’s highlighting its cognitive benefits.​

* Modeling Creativity: Kids watch what we do so demonstrating a dedicated creative life provides a blueprint for them, teaching the importance of passion, perseverance, and hard work.​

🔗 Links + Resources:

* 🎥 Andy Noble's TEDx Talk: Science Worth Dancing About

* 💃 NobleMotion Dance

* 🧬 LiveWire Project – Dance Meets Neuroscience

* 🧠 Meeting of Minds – Collaborative Research

* 🌈 The Vibrancy Society – Come hang out with me and explore the art of living a lit-up life

* 🎧 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts and remember to leave a review, share it with a friend, and follow the podcast!

Hey, Tune Up and Tune In to this week’s podcast episode! My book review of Two Beats Ahead, What Great Musical Minds Teach Us About Creativity and Innovation by Panos A Panay & R. Michael Hendrix is on offer! I really enjoyed this book - it made me look at creativity in new and exciting ways.

The authors share their ideas and valuable insights into how adopting a musical mindset can lead to innovative approaches in business and personal growth. Think listening deeply, collaborating, demoing, and remixing. Even if business is not your jam, I know you’re going to be inspired!

I’ve broken the book down into its main beats, get it? The Prologue, each of the Nine chapters, and the Coda. I share what stood out to me in each as well as take a few tangents into personal anecdotes, as per usual.

🎙️Key Themes Discussed, aka The Chapter Titles:

* 👂Listening

* 🧫Experimenting

* 🤲Collaborating

* 🎧Demoing

* 👌Producing

* 👯‍♀️Connecting

* 💿Remixing

* 🙈Sensing

* 🫧Reinventing

🔗 Resources & Links Mentioned, Rabbit Hole Approved:

* 📖 Two Beats Ahead - Panos A. Panay & R. Michael Hendrix

* 🎧 Sen Sound - Yoko Sen’s immersive soundscapes for healing

* 🩵 Hush Foundation - reducing the stress and anxiety felt by young patients and their families in hospitals

* 🎵 Like Snowdrops You Will Shine - the song from Collective Wisdom’s Hush Collection, Volume 18 - music to transform that difficult hospital environment

* 🃏 Oblique Strategies - creative prompt cards by Brian Eno & Peter Schmidt

* 🎼 Out of Silence - Neil Finn’s 2017 album recorded live, one night a week, for four weeks

* 🍻 Couch Choir - Bowie’s Heroes from 2020 - singing with strangers is s’much fun

Connect With Me!

* 🌈 The Vibrancy Society - My Creative Newsletter & Offerings

* FOLLOW the podcast for new episodes every fortnight!

* REVIEW if you enjoy the show so more people can find the fun!

* SHARE the episode / SHARE the love - it really helps!

This podcast was always a creative experiment; welcome to the next iteration…

In this short and slightly chaotic bonus episode (yes, complete with a clown horn, moth, and kookaburra), Bec checks in from her car to share a behind-the-scenes update on why the Threads & Bones podcast is shifting to a fortnightly schedule.

She opens up about the creative overload that’s been brewing - she’s just a gal who can’t say, “no”!

Spoiler: life got busy in that beautiful, slightly bananas way. Between teaching more Pilates, stepping back into the world of dance for a site-specific performance, and just generally being all-in on too many things at once, Bec’s attempting to carve out space to keep things sustainable (and still fun🤞).

Bec talks about the challenge of saying no to creative passions, the reality of overcommitting (hello, newsletter schedule confusion), and why this shift is all about finding a better balance without losing the joy of the creative process.

If you've ever struggled to balance creative passion with, you know, actual time and energy... this one’s for you.

What to Expect in This Episode:

Inside the Episode:

* A glimpse into Bec’s creative chaos through a real-time drive-by look at her beautifully busy brain (it’s relatable, promise)

* The truth about creative overload and scheduling stuff ups

* Podcasting, newsletters, dance - oh my

* Why going fortnightly is a love letter to longevity

* A promise that the podcast is still alive and well🤎

Release Schedule Update:

🎧 Exploring Creativity: Threads & Bones episodes will now drop every second week (fortnightly) instead of weekly. Thanks for sticking around!

In this episode of Threads & Bones, I’m taking you along for another “I Dibs The Front Seat” ride as I free-flow on the creativity behind names and nicknames. From naming a child to choosing a name that truly reflects who we are, names hold power, identity, and can offer us a chance for deep creative expression. I share my own journey with names, both given and chosen. From childhood teasing to spirit-given names, let’s explore the creative magic of what we call ourselves.

📌Show Notes:

* Naming someone is a creative act. whether it’s a baby or you, it’s about love as well as identity.

* My personal experience when my child changed their name - and what I learned from it.

* The evolution of my own names and nicknames (I’ve been Becca Boots, Rabs, and now… Bec!).

* Nicknames can be playful, weird, or downright powerful (for better or worse).

* A name isn’t forever - how changing your name can be a way to express your true self.

* Why it’s okay to play with names and embrace the creativity in how we present different sides of ourselves. Go ahead - reinvent yourself!

Join the Conversation!

🤔What do you think - are names a form of creative expression? Have you ever changed your name or embraced a nickname that truly felt like you? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

👉 Subscribe & Review: Love the podcast? Follow on Apple Podcasts and leave a review - it really helps!

🌟 Join The Vibrancy Society: Get my weekly newsletter on creativity, wellness, and joyful living at The Vibrancy Society.

📲 Share the Episode: If this episode spoke to you, share it with a friend!

Beep beep - catch you next time! 🚗💨

In this episode of Threads & Bones, I sit down with my friend Annette Nelson, who - despite growing up dancing, singing, and experiencing culture - doesn't consider herself creative. Her husband, kids, and friends are, and she embraces creativity through them, but when asked to make something herself? A total blank.

Our conversation meanders through what it means to be creative, whether it’s something you're born with or something you can borrow from those around you. We unpack the idea that creativity isn’t just about making something from nothing but also about openness, curiosity, and the little ways we express ourselves.

In this episode, we explore:

🎨 Why Annette doesn’t identify as creative despite her artistic upbringing

💡 How personality and upbringing shape our ideas of creativity

🙌 The power of leaning on creative friends and family

🚀 Why you might be more creative than you think, especially if you have friends that tell you that you are

Takeaways:

* 🎭 Whether you feel naturally creative or totally uninspired may have more to do with your upbringing and personality than any innate ability.

* 🎨 Creativity doesn’t have to come from within—you can invite it into your life by embracing experiences with creative friends and family.

* 🌟 Not identifying as creative is perfectly valid, but exploring new creative outlets can be fun, fulfilling, and even surprising.

* 🤔 You might be more creative than you give yourself credit for—especially if you broaden your definition of what creativity is.

🔗 Links From Today’s Episode:

* 🎧 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

* 🌟 Join The Vibrancy Society

* 💬 If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review, share it with a friend, and follow the podcast!

How many times can you reinvent yourself until fate shows you your true path? If you’re today’s guest, Sandi Lear, the answer is - more than a few! Sandi has lived many lives in many places. As a military kid she went to 13 different schools! Sandi lived on a sailboat and earned her crust as an ambulance officer before finally landing where she was meant to be: as an award-winning watercolour artist.

In this conversation, we talk about imposter syndrome, embracing constructive criticism, and how your life experiences lead you to where you’re supposed to be. If you’ve ever wondered if it’s too late to pursue a creative career, or felt like you were starting over (again), this one’s for you.

I interviewed Sandi at the end of last year and since then she’s been one of 15 Australian artists selected to represent the country at the International Watercolour Convention 2025, in Fabriano, Italy. 88 countries are represented.

And speaking of representation, The Longworth Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, represents Sandi.

Show Notes:

Guest: Sandi Lear – Award-winning watercolourist

Topics Covered:

🎨 Reinventing yourself and finding a big C creative career later in life

🌊 The role of fate in shaping your life’s journey

💡 Feeling fear and imposter syndrome and doing it anyway

🖌️ Learning to embrace vulnerability and constructive feedback

❤️ Listening to your body and honoring your creative energy

Key Takeaways:

1️⃣ It’s never too late to go big on creativity. Sandi didn’t start painting until adulthood - proof that timing doesn’t matter as much as passion.

2️⃣ You have to be open and a little bit brave. Putting yourself out there, being willing to hear feedback (the good and the tough), and staying vulnerable is part of the process.

3️⃣ Listen when fate nudges you. Sometimes, life doesn’t go the way we planned - but maybe it’s pointing us toward something even better.

4️⃣ Your life is your story - own it. Everything you’ve done, loved, and lost shapes who you are. Embrace it, because it shows up in your art (whatever your art may be).

5️⃣ Creativity isn’t all big moments. Honour your body, your energy, and be willing to find small moments of inspiration - little c creative moments can be found everywhere.

And the best quote of the episode? “Be willing to muck about because you never know if a masterpiece might sneak up on you”.

Links & Resources:

🎨 Follow Sandi: Instagram | Website | Email: [email protected]

🏛️ The Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns: Website

🖼️ The Longworth Gallery, Santa Fe: Website

🌍 Fabriano in Acquarello 2025 – International Watercolour Convention: More Info

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