Creative Joy, Finding Flow, and How We Are and Are Not Like Elizabeth Gilbert
I practically invented my podcast for today’s guest. His name is William Burr. William incarnates how to follow your curiosity and creativity. He has had so many strange and beautiful lives along his journey. He is a trained journalist and has spent years working at Radio-Canada (The French side of CBC) reporting in FRENCH. This is incredibly impressive because William is not francophone. And no matter what his job is, he remains committed to writing, painting, dancing, singing, meditating, and staying aligned with his heart and deepest self. He wrote and performed in two smash-hit and entirely poignant plays at the Montréal Fringe Festival. During the pandemic, William made a courageous move from Montréal to Vancouver to study theology and become a minister for the Presbyterian church. I cannot think of anyone the Presbyterian church needs more than William Burr. And I could not more be more thrilled to welcome William to This Is Your Strange and Beautiful Life. Make sure to listen to the end for a groundbreaking take on Elizabeth Gilbert’s new memoir, All the Way to the River, plus deep thoughts on sex and love addiction, and a half-bad ukulele segment for the ages. Infinite thanks, William Burr!
Follow William Burr
William Burr on Instagram: @w_burr
William Burr’s website: williamburr.wordpress.com
William Burr’s Substack: @williamburr2
William Burr’s Brilliant Substack on Elizabeth Gilbert: After Eat Pray Love, the Love Addiction
Follow Erica J. Schmidt
Erica on Instagram: @erica.j.schmidt
YouTube: @ericajschmidt
Substack: ericajschmidt.substack.com
Website: ericajschmidt.com
Will Burr Time Stamps
00:00:00 Teaser: William Burr’s Healing Thoughts on Creativity, Elizabeth Gilbert’s Sex and Love Addiction, and the Painful Pleasure and Pleasurable Pain of Falling in Love
00:01:38 The Erica Choir Theme Song + William Burr’s bio
00:03:52 William Burr’s Creative Oranges/Origins: What did creativity look like as a child and how did you start to explore writing, painting, and creative projects? (Shout-out to Aunt Kelsey!)
00:05:22 Why did William quit drawing and painting at age 15?
00:08:45 How did Will decide to go to journalism school? How did this help his creativity?
00:14:04 The Creative Spark. Does Will Burr relate to transforming his despair into creativity? How does he get his inspiration and drive to create? The despair of doing the dishes and how to move out of stasis and lethargy. How to release and express what’s inside of us.
00:18:37 But how do you choose the right medium, vehicle, and containers for expression? (Erica’s great source of despair: I want to do something but I don’t know what and I don’t know what I CAN do.)
00:19:39 How does William work within such a broad spectrum of vehicles and creative outlets? How does he fit it all in or decide what to focus on? (+ Elizabeth Gilbert’s theory that some of us are woodpeckers and dig one hole as our creative vehicle but a bunch of us are hummingbirds so we fly around pollinating the world.)
00:22:35: William Burr’s spiritual calling and how he went from attending Buddhist meditation to going back to school to become a Presbyterian church minister.
00:30:59 William Burr’s Routines. What is his morning routine? In case you haven’t read the Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron 17 times, here is a more elaborate explanation of Morning Pages.
Morning Pages: Write three stream-of-consciousness pages as soon as you wake up in the morning. Water and coffee are optional.
Erica and William discuss the pros and cons of journalling and Morning Pages and The Artist’s Way. Erica is concerned that everything in her life is going to be the same forever. She really wants to be not obsessed with herself and that is not going so well. She knows that “where attention goes, energy flows,” but she also heard that “what you resist, persists” and she’s wondering which one is it.
38:17 Does William Burr have a creative routine?
00:42:02 Erica summarizes a writing workshop where she learned about the three categories of writing: Drafting, Revising, and Creative Play. But we only seem to value drafting and generating new material and maybe that is not fair. Will we ever not beat ourselves up for not writing enough.
00:45:27 Does Will Burr have a cleaning routine? (No. Except for iPhone timers)
00:48:27 Elizabeth Gilbert Fan Club: From Eat Pray Love to a new life thesis on Sex and Love Addiction. We believe in Liz’s love addiction, but do we trust her new thesis?
01:05:15 Erica failed Man’s Search for Meaning but it’s not too late. Liz Gilbert gets an open invitation to This Is Your Strange and Beautiful Life.
01:07:56 Half-Bad Ukulele Segment: Someone Like You by Adele. Best.
01:12:04 Wrap-up, Thank yous and where to find Erica and Will on the interwebs.
If you enjoyed this episode, you might also love:
How to Make an Album and Hundreds of Exquisite Paintings with Sandra Taylor
How to Be a Writer with Kyle Stevenson
Moments of Joy with Al Lafrance
Art, Death, and Spiritual Care with Jennifer Hamilton
Art, Drugs, and Meditation with James Paterson
“Sometimes it lasts in love and sometimes it hurts instead.”
