Landy Peek (00:00)
Welcome to the Landy Peak Podcast. I'm your host and friend, Landy Peak, and I am thrilled to have you join me. In each episode, we will explore what makes life truly fulfilling. Happiness, deep connections, and self-discovery. Together, we'll uncover that happiness is not a destination, but a way of living.
What happens when life breaks you open so deeply you can't find yourself anymore? Not in a poetic way, in a real way. The kind of grief that disconnects you from beauty, from creativity, and from your own desire to keep going. Welcome back to the Landy Peak Podcast. I'm your host and friend, Landy Peak. And today I'm joined by Ellen Laura, writer, teacher, mystic, and creative guide, whose first husband was killed in Vietnam when she was only 19 years old.
And what unfolds in this conversation is not just about grief, it's about what happens after the shock. How do we find ourselves again when life changes us forever? How do we reclaim creativity when we feel emotionally numb? How do we stop trying to force giant solutions and instead begin watering what's still alive? We talk about beauty as a gateway back to ourselves, why isolation becomes dangerous in seasons of despair.
and the powerful question Ellen says we all need to ask. What's in your bedroom? What's in your kitchen? And what's on your altar? So if you've been feeling disconnected from yourself, if you've been trying to fix your life instead of listening to it, or if some part of you knows there's something alive inside of you waiting to bloom, this conversation is for you. Let's dive in. I wanna welcome Ellen Laura to the Landy Peak.
Ellen, welcome. Can you share a little bit about yourself so the listener can get to know you? Yes, I'm so delighted that you invited me to be here with your listeners. So my name is Ellen Laura, as you said, and I'm 75 years old, so I've had a lot of different careers. so writing has been part of it, teaching meditation, spiritual practices, teaching yoga, traveled the world, taught, spoke. So here I am still.
out there feeling that it's important that we maintain our creativity and connect with the people as long as our voice still wants to be heard. And I think that's why we'll hear. And I love that that's what you're doing, bringing your voice to so many people. Oh my gosh, thank you. I love the touch point of creativity and how it's kind of woven in through different parts of our life. And so as we're kind of tuning in and
letting that listener hear like, ⁓ this is a conversation I want to listen to. Can you talk a little bit about how you are bringing creativity into kind of the identity reclamation, how we're weaving that in? Well, I believe that we all have creativity. At one point, I was listening to a great YouTube and it was Professor Jeremy Utley and he's an AI expert and he was talking about
how creativity isn't just something for artists and writers. Everybody has a creative spark. And so in my work, that's what I've been working toward. Your spirit is here to express and create. And so from the beginning of my life, you know, even when I wanted to write little stories when I was younger, I always felt, I didn't know the word back then, creativity, but.
When I was 19, I had quite a traumatic and shocking experience. My first husband was killed in Vietnam when I was only 19. It was a shock and a trauma. And it was because of that, that I somehow started on the path of the only way back is to get creative. Because I have to find a way to express who I am because I felt something was stolen. Just as many people who've gone through a loss.
They feel like something is missing. So how do you reclaim that? Write, teach, paint, get in the kitchen, bring your creativity there, wherever it is, there's a spark that doesn't want to die. It's like this garden wants to bloom again. Yes. Can you talk about the, and I'm just kind of weaving in as you touched on grief, because I think that's a
powerful thing. We often get, especially in this midlife space that I'm in at 45, we're talking about like there's this identity shift, right? And one aspect that I don't think I've touched on a lot in the podcast, if at all, is that grief component and how we kind of reclaim ourselves around grief because it isn't an identity shakeup. It's a huge life event, especially when we lose someone like you did.
How do we weave in creativity when we're feeling overwhelmed by the sadness? Well, as I said, initially, the shock of the grief hits us in a way that we become almost immobilized. And the reason for that is the brain has not yet caught up with the reality we're living in. The brain is ⁓ a predictive orchid.
So let's say you've been married and you're expecting this person to be at the breakfast table, or even if it's the loss of a pet, you're expecting those little paws to, you know, be right there and feed that animal. The brain is expecting that, but the body, you know, knows the truth and the two are not in sync. So the best way to deal with that, even if you're not yet creative in the way of writing, painting, cooking, reach out and
consume other creative works. If you can, listen to music, go to an art museum, anything that you can do to fill your own self that feels empty with beauty. Because that beauty is the first step to reclaiming what was lost. Because we don't feel beautiful, as you said, when we're in a transition and grief is taken whole, our beauty, or the sense of who we are is threatened.
So that's the first step. Look for anything that you can bring into your life, even if you can bring some flowers, even if you can go out, add some beauty to your life because that's the beginning of creativity. To me, anything that doesn't have beauty, I don't know, I suppose some people would call it creative, but there's a thread. And even when we're being irreverent, okay, I have always had a rather irreverent sense of humor.
gotten me in trouble more than once. But you know, you still have to find a way to bring forth what it is that your own spirit is pushing and saying, come on, you've got to get this going. Let's wake up because otherwise you won't, you will not, you will not survive. I don't know if you want me to expand on that. Please do. Okay. So because the trauma that I went through and it was, as I say, quite shocking and
I wrote a memoir about it ⁓ and it was not easy to do so I had the memoir for years and I finally published it about three years ago and then I revised it in April. It's called Love in the Shadow of Saigon. The reason I revised it was because one of the triggers for me is war and here we are again in a war. So how did I, how I was feeling again lost. I don't feel creative.
I can't sit down and write. I'm writing cat stories. I'm writing fantasies, but there's a war going on and I'm triggered. So I looked at myself, okay, then I need to take out that story and revise it and add just a little opening to it about here we are again in this same place. And one of the things I recall because it was so traumatic for me and I didn't want live, okay, I don't know if...
that happens because I was so young, I didn't want to continue living. And it took years for me to begin to reclaim that. About 10 or 15 years ago, while I was living in Maui, Hawaii, I went to a lecture by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. And there we are in this big auditorium with all these people. And he opened for questions. And someone said, how do we maintain our creativity and optimism when
these difficult things are going on in the world. And he said in his own way, you really have no choice. If you don't find a way to reclaim, you will sink into a pit of despair. It was so dark. You will not survive. Okay. So then two days later, there's a special event with a more select group of those of us who've been supporting children in Nepal. And we're, you know, there we are again.
Only this time there's maybe 50 of us instead of a whole auditorium. And it opens to questions again. And someone said almost exactly the same thing. How do we regain our creativity and optimism in the face of schools or this or that? And he said, well, you have no choice. You must find a way. And as I was listening to him, I started to think of the story, the book,
the never ending story. don't know if you're familiar with it. Yes, I am. Okay. So remember when the horse sinks into the pit of despair because he, he, he's lost. So I think that's part of what it, what the image that came to me, if you don't find a way to reclaim your creativity and optimism, you're going to sink into a pit that you're not going to be able to recover from. Okay. So now the next day we're back in a big group.
out in the auditorium with lots of people. Questions again, another person, the exact same question, how did you, leaving to bed and doing all of this reclaimed? And you said, I answered that three times. I'm telling you, you have no choice. So to me, that's the embodiment of creativity. When grief hits us, we really have no choice.
It's either sink into a pit of despair like that horse in the never ending story or find a way, you know, reach out to someone like yourself. Okay. People could listen to your podcast as a way to reclaim their own voice and creativity instead of sitting around and moping. So I don't know if that answers it, but those are the thoughts I have about it. It's incredible because, and I love the visual cause I've watched the never ending story.
a lot of times, especially as a child and with my now children. But I can feel and I have felt in those moments of despair, like that horse where the sand is sucking in. You feel like sinking. There's no way out. And what I'm hearing you say is not that we have to really dive into ourselves and pull something out, but that here are creative beings.
all around us that we can tap into their energy, that we can tap into their gift and their sharing through music, through color, through flowers, through words in a podcast or words in a book to be able to use that bridge to help start pulling us out. And I think that's incredibly powerful because when we are in that total despair, we can't even think like, how am going to get myself off?
out of this. Like we start spinning. But if you think, okay, use some music. And that can be that first single next best step, that little bridge to be able to start pulling us out. And when you think about you have no choice, like the Dalai Lama said, you have no choice. You either ink or swim here. Yeah, we choose swim. Choose to have that bridge. Yes. And ⁓
If you think about, again, the image in the movie, the boy tried to save him, but the horse was lost. So for us, we're looking for that hand to hold onto. And so one of the most dangerous things to do when we're in a pit of despair is to isolate. It's very dangerous. And it's a temptation because there could be guilt and shame and why am I going through this? But it's something to remind ourselves and remind each other.
Do know even with one person you trust that you could reach out to without feeling shame or guilt about what you're going through? Reach out to that person, as I say. And listening to a podcast, you're really not alone. If someone tunes in and listens to you, that may be a safe way because they're not exposed, but they're not alone.
I love the impact of having that distance with that connection because I think it is so powerful because a lot of times we do and we are wrapped in that shame or the guilt or the, don't want to bother. I don't want to be a burden, right? So we wrap ourselves in these stories of we're all alone. But when we're tapping into that other's energy and listening and connecting via voice, and I have done this,
I have been in those sad spots of life and listen to podcasts because there is that other human without other ideas. you pick out those little things that's like, ⁓ I was meant to hear that. Like if you're in that deep despair of grief, to be able to, if you're listening, know that that is that connection point, that you are choosing that creativity just by turning on that podcast, just by turning on the music.
just by looking and appreciating the color of flowers. Yes. That... It seems simple, but it's very important. It's really essential to do that. So that's what I would say is, you know, and you know, the first time I ever remembered writing a story, I was in sixth grade. And it was a time where we were all asked to write something, don't know, some kind of essay when you're sixth grade. And somehow...
I sat there as a sixth grader and I felt like they're going to like my story and I'm going to be embarrassed. And so I pretended that I was sick and had to go to the nurse. So I left the room. told the teacher, I couldn't sit there. I couldn't bear anybody to look at me because I knew the story was good. So off I go to the nurse. And when I finally came back, the teacher said,
We've read your story aloud. It was the best and we all loved it. So there's always been some thread in the maybe as an introvert. And I don't want to be seen. And that's probably why for me, I turned to writing. I wanted to do something quietly because I could be private. And so sometimes as a writer, come out and we speak and people get to know us, but you know, there are ways depending on who you are.
If you want to be seen, okay, this is a world where there's lots of opportunities more than ever, get yourself on YouTube or go out and speak, especially if you're young and you have all the energy to do that. But if you're more of an introvert and you want to be creative in writing, painting, a lot of introverts are creative in their own little world. But eventually we venture forth
And we bring what we've created out into the world.
I love the permission that as we're talking about creativity and putting things out into the world, that we don't have to do this in a big splashy way. That we can be introverts, that we can do this quietly, that we can really put our creative energy, whether it's writing or painting or whatever it is, music, out into the world in a way that's still like a protective little bubble that you can
show yourself and be safe at the same time. Yes, and as I said, even if it's not the traditional ways of creativity, one of my close friends, she was very special to me because she gifted me the cat I have, Bella. She could no longer keep Bella. And for the year that she was still alive, she was not only the best cook I've ever been invited to someone's home, every meal she prepared
was perfect. The way she presented it, the table, the settings, the flowers. And as I got to know her, I saw that creativity in every other area of her life. She didn't write, she didn't paint, but in her bedroom, she had woven little ribbons through the duvet cover, you know, to make it more colorful in her own home. So even though she wasn't doing anything in what we call traditional creativity, her life
was an expression of that by the cooking, by the way she decorated, by the way she kept her flowers, Blooney and the garden. So there's a lot of different ways to express your creativity. I absolutely love how you're honoring the non-traditional ways to be creative, right? And in my head had gone there, like things that we create to show, to put out into the world. But as you talk, I'm like, my gosh,
really tuning into my grandma who's passed now, but how creative she was in She Like Your Friend, exceptional cook, and had gorgeous gardens that you know everybody enjoyed, and how I think we discredit our own creativity, and if you had asked me 10 years ago, five years ago, I would have said I'm not a creative person. Like I don't paint.
I don't do, like I don't sing, I don't have music. I don't do anything in that typical way. I'm not a writer. I'm not, you whatever. And as you're talking, I am creative in the little things. I love to bake, right? There's different ways in my house that show creativity. I love colored walls. I paint my house, so there's colors in my house. I bring in others' art in ways that I'm setting things up.
And I think so many of us are discrediting those little, little, and they're not so little, but not big and flashy forms of our creativity and really tuning in and honoring. mean, as you're describing your friends, I can just visualize being in her space and around her and how good it must feel to be with somebody like that. And there is that energy. And we love to go with those people that have
that inner creativity that's like, oh, this, mean, the love sitting down at a table with beautiful meal and really appreciating the flavors. That's creativity. It's just not in the traditional sense that we're thinking of. And of course, whether you consider it or not, you are being creative with creating a podcast. I mean, that's impossible to not be creative to do that. You came up with the title.
You come up with your themes. All of that involves your own creativity. So in addition to your home and what you do to make that beautiful, you are expressing your creativity by showing up here. Thank you. And I want listeners to hear that as well, because I think we do discredit kind of the things that we're doing in our day-to-day life, because it's like, everybody does that. But not everybody does that. No, no, because
Beauty is, you one of the things I remember reading years ago was that beauty is the first step to awakening. It opens the door to a frequency, a higher consciousness. The next step is discernment, and that's equally important. But without that love of beauty, the door doesn't even unlock initially. And sometimes if a person is just intellectually cold, you know, it doesn't feel
supportive. You know, there's something there, there's, but it's more cunning and it's more ⁓ caustic. Whereas as soon as you add the element of beauty, I can see from your background, there's beautiful things behind you. So there you are adding beauty to our lives by allowing us into your home and showing us what beauty looks like. And that's part of what creativity is. And it's one of the things I think I haven't tuned into is that first step beauty.
and how that is the gateway to creativity. The exploration and going deeper into how do we reclaim our beauty? How do we reclaim creativity? So I thought those questions could be a bit provocative, but also lead us to what we need to search for, how to find some answers and insights. Absolutely. And as we look at like what's in your bedroom,
what's in your kitchen and what's on your altar. Those are kind of big tipping points into insights into our lives. And so if the listener like me is sitting here going, okay, what is in my bedroom? What is in my kitchen and what is in my altar? And we're finding things that have misalignment that are like, I can feel the constriction come in as I'm looking at what's on my altar or what's in my kitchen or what's in my bedroom. What is our next step?
Well, again, the first thing is to notice. when I was doing the questions for myself, I I love my bedroom. It's beautiful. My cat's there. It's pretty. And then I looked in my kitchen and I thought it's pretty, but I don't enjoy going in there because I don't like cooking. And in addition to that, I've been listening to way too much garbage on YouTube. That's depressing. So after you ask those questions, as you just said, insight is the first step.
The biggest challenge is to make some decisions about what you're going to do about it. And that doesn't mean some big grandiose thing. So one of the things I've noticed in the years that I've worked, you know, counseling and coaching people, when you're in a transition and you face something, as you said, it's out of alignment with who you are, with your own spirit. Don't run off and spend $10,000 to go to this retreat or
run off to Brazil and meet this healer. The first thing to do is to nurture what's still alive. So instead of focusing only on what's off, look at what's there that's still alive. So for me, because the altar and the kitchen were misaligned, the altar is magnificent. That I protect so much. I thought, okay, I need to have my kitchen. So what did I do? I made myself sit down.
to a few meals where normally I'm standing over the kitchen and I'm eating something. I could remember even years ago, several of my friends who know me well, I know that I take care of myself and said, how can you stand up in your kitchen and eat out of a can of tuna fish when you love beauty so much? So for me, the kitchen has been misaligned on and off for years and it's still a challenge for me. So,
Again, as you said, find what's out of alignment and then look at what you're doing in the other areas that are aligned. And if there are none, well then find someone who has just explained to you where it's aligned and follow that. So, as I said, I started adding just a little bit. I sat down and I put three napkins on the table and I put the plate on the table. So I don't know if that really answers enough of what to do. It's a mix of what not to do.
don't run out and go wild to fix stuff, that's dangerous. That can be, that can be when we're in a place of misalignment, we really need to pause and figure out what risks am I being tempted to take? I just recently published a new essay, so I know I'm jumping around and it was called, How to Defeat the Demon of Boredom. Now,
As an introvert, lot of people say, well, introverts are a dead word for it. I thought, yeah, well, that's not true for this introvert. I have dealt with boredom my entire life. So how do you deal with that? Well, don't run out and do something grandiose because you're at great risk of doing the wrong thing, taking too much of a risk. So you scale back and say, okay, here's what's going on. Here's where I'm misaligned. And here's what I'm going to do about it. Taking steps.
And as we said before, reach out to someone who is better than you are in that area where you need some help. So it could be the bedroom, it could be the kitchen, it could be the altar. You don't have to do all of this alone. I think that's something a lot of people need to hear because you hit a nail on the head, especially in my life, in...
we see something that's misaligned. We see something that's uncomfortable. See something that we want to change. my gosh, this is glaring and big. And we tend to focus on that negative thing. And we then dive in to something that just seems to make it worse. Even if it's like, here's the solution, right? I'm struggling with money, so I'm going to take this big money course and invest $10,000 and
And now I'm $10,000 in debt and I still haven't really resolved anything. And you're saying, hold on, let's pause. Let's turn the other way and water what's working, what's positive, what's aligned and focus there. And in my body, I can feel like, but, but we really got to address this thing over here. It's big. It's now flashing lights. We see it. But I can also feel the settling inside my own system as you're like,
Let's water what's still there. Let's water what's working. I needed to hear this so much today. I can't tell you. I want to hug you. ⁓ and now I'm going to cry, but there is this pause and there's that permission to pause that I think so many of us are missing because we're pushing for that next thing. We're pushing for the solution and we're neglecting what is already there and working.
You're so right. And not only the finances, but I know several people who, you they were in midst of something traumatic, leave a bad marriage. So there they are feeling like, okay, now I have to get over this, you know, narcissistic abuse. And they plopped down 10,000, $15,000 to run off to a retreat with a person who two years later, they've realized. Scammed them. be aware the big leaps.
are best taken when you're more grounded. You know, if you're going to invest big, do it when you're more grounded, not when you're wounded. That's the temptation. When we're wounded, I need a big solution. like, well, we've tried that. Almost all of us have done that. What? And implement the big solution. And then later we're uh-oh, now I'm deeper in trouble than I was before. So again,
move more slowly, reach out to someone who's better in that area than you are or who's lived through something, you know, that they can share the wisdom. I think that's really important is to reach out to that person who's a few steps ahead of you because they have the capacity, hopefully, to hit the brakes a little bit and say, ⁓ don't go dive enough into the deep end right now. Let's look at this is what worked for me.
And we also have, we kind of swing back to that initial creativity in tapping into somebody else, we're tapping into them. And that's huge. It's like, here's that hand that we're looking for. And I think we discredit that hand too. You know, whatever the story is, I don't want to be a burden or I do need this big solution. That pause feels uncomfortable because it's uncomfortable to sit in that misalignment. And we want it fixed.
now. And so we do dive in big and hoping that that will change how we feel. But that little pause allows us more awareness of what's going on inside. And then getting that extra support and guidance and like somebody that's a few steps ahead has been through this journey before us. That gives us more permission to kind of look up and out versus the narrow viewpoint of I've got to fix the problem.
Yes, absolutely. So that I think that's perfect. That's exactly what we all need to do. Keep reaching out to someone, you know, so that we're not not isolated. As I said, I know from my time in grief, I was so tempted to just isolate because all the family members who were close to me at the time, they didn't have a clue. How do you deal with a 19 year old person who's just lost their husband and is a little bit crazy?
and saying crazy things and saying, I'm not going to show up at the funeral if the soldiers are there with guns and scaring everybody. So you have to find someone, which took me time to find who I could reach out to. Yeah. And especially in your circumstance, there's probably not a lot of people who are in the exact same situation that you could reach out and say, OK, how did you survive this? Yeah.
It's incredible that you have then turned that into a book to share because now you have that somebody else in the world has that as a resource to be in, to touch in and say, wait, here's this book with this woman who is incredible and wrote it and has at least survived this point where I feel like I'm drowning. Yes. And one of the things that I didn't mention about creativity and recovering
About three or four years ago, I joined a platform on Amazon called Vela, V-E-L-L-A. It was one of their serialized platforms that published books. So I wrote and published many 13 books, fiction, nonfiction, science fantasy, romance, mystery, cat stories. And then after two years and
people saying they love the story and earning some money, got up to a few thousand dollars a month, meeting all these incredible other authors. Amazon decided that it wasn't profitable and shut the entire system down. All of our stories, digital ash, gone, just gone. I'm still in touch with a lot of those authors. A lot of our stories are still waiting to be reborn.
Again, staying in touch with other people who said, well, here's how I did it. Here's, you know, here's how I'm republishing some of what I felt, you know, still have had words to be spoken. So what I've been doing slowly, taking those stories and bringing them back out. But again, it's about reaching out to others, even if you've lost something really significant, which for, you know, for me and for a lot of us here, we had believed we finally found a way.
to get our workout. And it was exciting and thrilling and then crash. Now it would have been very easy to just say, well, the big bad corporations always do that to the little guy and quit. Said, no, I'm not going to do that. And so that was when I started creating a project called Blossom. It's about reclaiming your creativity. And it has a book, it has a workbook. I'm still looking on publishing it.
but that will be out there soon because there's a lot of people who have lost their creativity and want to path back. I've interviewed lots of people through this, through writing that book and eventually it'll be live somewhere online in our lives. I am so excited for it. Cause you're right. A lot of people have lost touch with that creativity where I think, especially as children, right? We have
so much more access to our creativity. And then as we grow and go through life, it seems like that light starts to dim it for some of us, not all of us. But then we hit this space where it's like, I am craving it again. And finding that path back can feel really hard. I don't even know who I am anymore. How do I even touch base with it? How do I fit this into a really busy life?
And I love that connection back to let's connect with a person who can help guide you through that, who has done this. Because in that, you're not trying to do it alone, recreate the wheel. We are just following that path. It's like if you're like live in Colorado, if you're go on a hiking trail, you're not gonna go crash brush. The easier way to do it is to find a designated trail, be able to follow it, know where it ends, right? Have that as a guide.
You're using that same thing with our creativity. We're using other people's stories and other people's experiences as a guide to help get us to where we want to go. Absolutely. So that's why we're here for each other. I love that so much. my goodness. Okay. we have about 15 minutes left. Is there anything else you really want to focus on? Cause this is so incredible. don't know. Do you have any questions? Because I kind of covered a lot of what I do and
what I've been writing and teaching and do you have any questions? Can you go into kind of archetypes as a guide for transformation and then also kind of reclaiming your authentic voice?
So, archetypes are fascinating to me because from everything I've studied, we all have different archetypal energy that flows to us. And some of us think it is or is not creative, but once you know the themes of these archetypal energies, you start to recognize them. I got introduced to them in several ways. Carolyn Mase teaches a lot about archetypes in her work.
And then one of the metaphysical systems that I studied for 25 years, the human design system, which has a blend of astrology and, you know, I'm a certified human design analyst. I studied with a founder with Rob Leroux in the nineties. I was one of his first students. So when you look at your human design chart, the archetypal energy is there. I always have the archetype of the revolutionary, okay?
always want to buck that system and say, why are we accepting this? The other archetype that I've had that's been a theme in my life is the teacher. Now, once you get to know your archetypes, you have to explore both the shadow and the positive side. So for instance, when I'm out teaching a course and people love me as a teacher, I'm all happy and that energy's flowing. But when I've learned
Husbands, boyfriends, they don't like the teacher. They don't want me to be their teacher. I had an experience with my mother years ago and she was still alive. I found myself lecturing her about her, some of her bad decisions. So there the teacher archetype is showing up and she would just get quiet and not talk enough. And she was like, all of a sudden click, it dawned on me. Her mother doesn't want you to be her teacher. She wants a different kind of energy.
So when you explore the main archetypes in your life, you have to explore which ones are moving you in a positive direction and in the right situation. So the teacher for me is great when I'm called and asked to teach. It is not appropriate with people who don't want me as their teacher. Okay. Same with the mystic. The mystic has been in my life from that time that I was 19.
I started hearing voices and having visions even before I knew what it meant. And that's been a theme where I have friends who love that part of me. They tune into that. They want me to guide them and help. The mystic is the one who can move into the unseen worlds, explore dreams with you. And then there are those who don't want to hear a word about it. It's scary. It's inappropriate. So again,
don't bring it out there. And then one of the other things that I found fascinating as I was exploring my own archetypes and doing this for other people, I have several friends, including myself, who have had the princess archetype. And I remember at one point, I had gone to a seminar in Las Vegas where Carolyn Mase was speaking live and I was in between.
relationships and I was dating this new guy. And ⁓ so he and I are sitting there and she says she doesn't have the princess archetype, but for those of you in the audience who do, I'm guessing you've shown up here with the night and looking at this guy and thinking, my God, another man I've drawn into my life who wants to take care of me and treat me like a princess until he discovers the other archetypes.
that live along with her that he may or may not like. So one of the things that's really important when you begin to explore the archetypes in your life.
pick four or five of them and see which ones have caused you problems and picking relationships, picking careers, blowing up situations that you then regret, you what you walked into. So I'm not sure if that answers some of it, but I love doing human design readings and bringing out for people, here's what this archetype is showing. How has this played out in your life? How is it playing out now?
and then weaving in everything else. So to back up, when I wrote that book, Lossome, Recovering Your Creativity, every chapter has an archetype. And I interviewed different people and embodied some of those archetypes. Oh, how fascinating. So I thought that would good way to explore because we don't, some of us don't have, you know, the same archetypes.
You know, I interviewed people who have the pirate archetype, even though that's close to the revolutionary and not quite there, but it's fascinating to meet other people. So I did that. I think there's 47 chapters in that book where they explore similar, but very unique archetypes. That's fascinating. So do all of the archetypes come from human design or is this coming from different areas?
comes from a lot of different areas, from you, from Carolyn Mase. Archetypes have been part of our psychological background for a long time. What human design did, which is similar to what astrology does, it talks about, here's this design and here are these archetypes. How do they play out for you? Okay. design approaches it as an experiment. What speaks to you? It's certainly not the only one.
And not the first, because human design only came out into the world in 95. So archetypal ⁓ exploration came long before that. So think of Joseph Campbell's work, The Hero, right? And we have a lot of that. The Hero archetype is in almost every classic story. We were talking earlier about the Neverending Story, right? We've got the hero, we've got,
⁓ So many different archetypes show up in writing and fantasy and fiction and nonfiction work. So if we're curious about our own archetypes, where's a good place that we can start to just get an idea of what archetypes are playing in our lives? Well, it depends on your interest. You could read some of Joseph Campbell's works. If you are inclined towards human design, there's lots of information that's free. I can do design consultations.
but there's lots of it where you can look at your own chart. And then for those of you who have an interest in Caroline Minnis, she's more of a spiritual teacher. She has books and many of her YouTube interviews go very deeply into archetypes. I met a woman, I was a guest on her podcast and she and a group of her friends did a whole community thing where they all explored their archetypes through her system.
So it depends on what your interest is. There are free things and things that you can pay for to begin to explore. So it depends on what your interest is. Have you explored yours at all? I have not. And speaking my interest in like, I'm so curious. ⁓ Is there anything as we kind of come to a close that you would love the listener to hear? Well, mainly what I'd love them to hear is that peace,
is a path that's calling to us. And I'm wishing that more of us can find ways to embrace that as our creativity grows and that we find ways to find peace within ourselves and within support others who are speaking out for peace. I love that. I know that there are people listening who would love to continue a conversation with you. How can people connect with you?
Well, my website is my name Ellen with an M Laura E L L E N M like Mary Laura L A U R A dot com. It's kind of a hodgepodge. Sometimes I look at that website and think I need to pull it all together because it's got books and it's got coaching and it's got grief and it's got essays. But one of the things I often say is I'm 75 years old. Of course I have a lot of backstory that's been happening. Of course I've done a lot of different
things. So that would be a good place. I have sub stack essays that are free. The new podcast, just launch, enter the Mystics Garden, and you can listen to the first episode. Most of those things are free that you can join me with. And if you wanted something deeper, I do human design readings and I do grief coaching and counseling. So if you have time just explore.
on my website a few of the different things that I offer or take advantage of everything that's free. my goodness, you're a wealth of information and knowledge and thank you for sharing your own creativity with us. One of the things that really struck me is when Ellen said, have no choice, you must find a way. Not to become someone else, not to perform healing perfectly, but to keep reaching towards beauty, towards connection, toward the tiny things that remind you you're still here.
I think so many of us believe creativity has to look big or impressive to matter. But this conversation reminded me that creativity can look like setting the table, planting flowers, turning on music instead of isolating, listening to a voice that makes you feel less alone. And maybe that's the real reclamation. Not becoming a brand new person, but slowly returning to the parts of yourself that were never fully gone. If this episode spoke to you,
I'd love you to share it with someone who may need this reminder right now. And if you want to connect with Ellen, all of her links are down in the show notes. I want to thank you for being here. Thank you for showing up, doing something incredible for you. Thank you for listening. And thank you for continuing to choose yourself, one small step at a time. I am so grateful that you are here. I want to wish you all the happiness that today can bring, and I will talk to you on the next episode. Hey, before you go, just a little bit of legal.
This podcast is designed for educational purposes only. It is not to replace any expert advice from your doctors, therapists, coaches, or any other professional that you would work with. It's just a chat with a friend, me, where we get curious about ideas, thoughts, and things that are going on in our lives. And as we're talking about friends, if you know someone who would benefit from a conversation today, please share, because I think the more that we open up these conversations, the more benefit we all get.
So until next time, give yourself a big hug from me and stay curious because that's the fun in this world.
