Create-Today with Beth Buffington

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Oct 2026

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October 15, 202637 min

E148 - Your Busy Brain Needs Poetry (and Time to Journal) Guest, Bri McLaughlin

Poetry is having a moment. And your busy brain needs it! ✍️ This week on Create Today, Beth sits down with Bri McLaughlin, LCSW, a bilingual therapist, and poetry therapist in training at Connections Health in Evanston, Illinois. Together Beth and Bri explore how a poem and a few minutes minutes with a journal can calm anxious thoughts, quiet your inner critic, and finally give words to feelings you couldn't name. In this episode, you'll discover: • What poetry therapy actually is (bibliotherapy, ritual, metaphor, and group sharing) • W hy you need zero writing experience to benefit • Why reading a poem out loud, helps you feel and find hidden understanding • How a five-minute free write, with no spelling, grammar, or punctuation rules, pushes back on perfectionism • The unsent letter: says the important things you need to say to someone • The bonfire "burn boxes" from one of Beth's creative retreats • What psychologist James Pennebaker's research found when people spent a few short sessions writing about hard experiences: fewer doctor visits and measurable changes in immune markers • How a journaling exercise turns a poem into a mirror for your busy brain’s worries and anxiety • Easy ways to fit a poem a day into your morning coffee or evening wind-down • W hy reading slowly matters • Why memorizing one favorite poem provides a comfort blanket you can carry anywhere • A sneak peek at Poems While You Wait, Chicago's typewriter poets who write you an original poem in about 15 minutes Going FourWords™ reflection: this episode is a perfect example Release, the stage where you quiet your inner critic and let go of what's weighing you down, so more of your goodness gets out into the world. Resources mentioned by Bri McLaughlin: Connections Health, Evanston, IL: www.connections-health.com Poem-a-Day email from the Academy of American Poets: www.poets.org/poem-a-day Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer's daily poems: www.wordwoman.com 📚 Bri's poetry book picks: For general life issues : Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem-Making by John Fox For grief : Time Will Tell by Courtney Peppernell Beneath All Appearances: An Unwavering Peace by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer: wordwoman.com/books/beneath-all-appearances-an-unwavering-peace For body image and healing from trauma (trigger warning: sexual abuse, intergenerational trauma) : Home Body by Rupi Kaur The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur Healing Through Words: Guided Journal by Rupi Kaur More from Rupi Kaur: rupikaur.com For women's self-esteem and queer poetry: The Princess Saves Herself in This One by Amanda Lovelace: amandalovelace.com Resources for Create-Today 🔗 Grab your free Going FourWords™ Guide: www.bdi-create.today 🔗 Come play inside the Going FourWords Clubhouse ($1 your first month): www.bdi-create.today/going-fourwords-membership Remember...Everyone is creative, my friend. Subscribe for new conversations about... Creative Ideas for Better Living 🎧 #PoetryTherapy #JournalingForAnxiety #CreativeWellness

October 8, 202639 min

E147 - Invest Your Time Like Money. Seven Ways to Be Creatively Rich

🎁 Grab your guide for tips on creative investing! The Going FourWords™ Guide, is your plan for a growing your creativity: https://www.bdi-create.today/fourwords At 12:01 this morning you got paid. 24 hours, deposited straight into your daily account. Same as me. Same as everyone. So where did all those hours go? 🤔 Some went to sleep, work, and laundry (the beast that will not be tamed). But that little pocket of free time? A lot of it slipps away in five-minute pieces. A video. A scroll. A recipe you'll never make. These minutes (lost)... They never felt like spending. (right?) That's the trick. This week on Create Today, we're treating time like money We're exploring a better question: What if you creatively invested your free hours instead of scrolling them away? In this episode: We look at: • Why you should consider time as a currency • How your daily account is a fixed amount...that never gets a top-off • The surprising research showing our free hours are the ones least likely to refuel us (and that was 1989, before cellphones!) • The miraculous "Flow" state, explained so you can understand • H ow to get into flow with the "10% stretch" recipe (Goldilocks with a paintbrush) • 3 signs you're in creative flow, • How to tell a deposit from a withdrawal • What 45 minutes of making art does to stress hormones, for beginners and pros alike • Why being creative today makes you feel better tomorrow • T he compound interest of creative self care • The "creative hangover" professional creatives get • H ow to protect yourself from creative burnout • Why doomscrolling is a vending machine snack, and how it's a long-term investment • What the research says about creativity, brain health, and a younger-looking brain • Your Going FourWords™ creative budget: Revive, Realize, Refine, Release • 7 ways to invest your creative currency (mix and match like a portfolio) • Your one small thing this week Time Stamp: 00:00 Your daily deposit of 24 hours 03:00 Time is a currency 05:50 Your first deposit: creative flow 08:00 The recipe for flow 09:00 Why free time drains us 10:30 What flow does in your body 12:30 3 signs you're in flow 14:00 How to set yourself up for flow 16:30 Your Going FourWords™ creative budget 19:00 The compound interest of creativity 22:00 The creative hangover (for creative pros) 24:30 Creativity, stress, and inflammation 26:30 Scrolling vs. creating 28:00 7 ways to invest in creative currency 33:00 How to turn deposits into habits 37:00 The ultimate yield: your brain 39:30 Your one small thing this week Create-Today Resources: 🎁 Grab your free Going FourWords™ Guide, your plan for a growing creative account: https://www.bdi-create.today/fourwords Get on the Create-Today email for updates on how you can be more creative: https://www.bdi-create.today Remember, everyone is creative, and every creative minute you spend today is a deposit your future self gets to enjoy. Subscribe for a new conversation on creativity, wellness, and self care every week. 🎧 #CreativeWellness #StopDoomscrolling #CreativeSelfCare

October 1, 202649 min

Notes on how you can be more creative with guest Vanessa Harnik

Ever catch yourself thinking, "I wish I were more creative"? You've come to the right place. 🎨 My guest Vanessa Harnik is an advocate for creatives and she shares her tips and secrets about how you can lead a (more) creative life. She comes from a long line of artists and makers. She's the granddaughter of abstract painter Paul Feeley and runs a family stationery business. She happily shares she's not very good at all the crafts she loves. She does them anyway. Her secret to staying creative isn't talent. It's small habits and the right people around her. Vanessa's advice for anyone who wants to be more creative: • Start small. • When "be more creative" feels overwhelming, go bite-sized • Write down three things you noticed today (a practice her grandfather gave his art students, and it changes how you see everything) • Try tiny experiments: a small drawing, a little writing, a new recipe • Surround yourself with creative people, and keep meeting new ones • Get out of your comfort zone: travel, museums, live music, even a comedy show • Reach out to someone you haven't talked to in years and tell them what they meant to you Also in this episode: • Why you don't have to be good at something for it to count as creative (yes, "Excel craft" counts) • How to build a creative community: themed dinner parties, • A 15-year crafternoon, and friends you can text at 5 a.m. • Making friends in your 50s (hard, and so worth it) • Why honest friends and advocates make you braver about releasing your work into the world, • The Release stage of Beth's Going FourWords™ framework and how it fits with Vanessa's message. • Getting off the couch when binge-watching is calling your name • How writing a daily Substack helps Vanessa feel less alone, and helps her readers too • The Note Nest: Vanessa's Little Free Library for handwritten cards, and the stranger in Waco, Texas who wants one for his community This week's small challenge: tonight, write down three things you noticed today. That's it. Watch what it does to tomorrow. How to find Vanessa Harnik: Read Vanessa's Substack: https://vanessaharnik.substack.com ✉️ Want a Note Nest in your neighborhood? https://thenotenest.net 💌 Notes & Queries cards: https://www.nandq.com Social Media links: Notes & Queries on Instagram Notes & Queries on Facebook The Note Nest Vanessa Harnik on LinkedIn Instagram reel by Vanessa Harnik Resources for Create-Today 🎁 Grab your free Going FourWords™ Guide: https://www.bdi-create.today Join the Going FourWords™ Clubhouse! https://www.bdi-create.today/going-fourwords-membership Stay in touch with your creativity. Subscribe to the Create-Today podcast!. 🎧 #HowToBeMoreCreative #CreativeCommunity #CreativeWellness

September 24, 202633 min

E145 - The Happiness Health Behind Having a Pen Pal. (Get on the Trend Wagon!)

✉️ Think for a moment...it feels sweet to get a handwritten envelope in your mailbox, right? This week on Create Today, Beth explains the brain health and happiness boost behind writing to...and receiving letters from a pen pal. Letter writing is having a real comeback (Pinterest even named pen pals a 2026 trend), and the research on what a handwritten letter does for your heart, your brain, and your stress levels is pretty wonderful. Grab your favorite pen, my creative friend, because in this episode, you'll discover: • Why a text takes two seconds to send, two seconds to read, and about two seconds to forget • W hat a slow, handwritten letter gives you that a screen can't • The year-long "Please, Mr. Postman" pen pal study where loneliness scores dropped as people traded one letter a month • What happened when people wrote just three gratitude letters over three weeks (its some good brain stuff!) • The brain science of discovering beauty, and why decorating an envelope counts as making art • Why we worry way too much about our handwriting, our spelling, and whether a letter will feel awkward. • The two 12-year-old pen pals, one in Singapore and one in Newfoundland, who wrote for 43 years and finally met for one giant hug • Seven kinds of people who especially need a pen pal right now, from caregivers and the screen-weary to the quiet ones and the stationery hoarders (you know who you are) • Easy snail mail ideas to get started: one fun card, one small question, one walk to the mailbox • W here letter writing fits inside the Going FourWords™ framework This week's small challenge: pick one person, one piece of paper you love, and write one page. Then mail it and enjoy the wait. 💌 Grab your free Going FourWords™ Guide: https://www.bdi-create.today Find a pen pal in the Going FourWords Clubhouse (try it for $1, then $9/month): https://www.bdi-create.today/going-fourwords-membership Subscribe to the Create-Today podcast for a new conversation on creativity, connection, and self-care every week. 🎧

September 17, 202640 min

E144 - Deborah Shoemaker and her success mantra: "What if I tried that?"

Here's what happens when you just "see what happens". Deborah retired after 38 years in government, tried knitting, watercolor, and acrylics (turns out she’s not a patient painter), and somehow ended up running her own publishing house with two crime-solving cats and a squirrel who thinks he’s a rock star. 🐾📚 This week on Create Today, Beth sits down with Deborah Shoemaker, author, and founder of Feather Mountain Expressions, to talk about what happens when you actually chase the question "I wonder if I could do that?" In this episode, you’ll discover: • Deborah’s own personal spin on Beth’s Going FourWords™ framework and why it took her a full two years to get there (completely normal, by the way) • The “rabbit hole rule” that keeps her Canva and Pinterest and videos from turning into a thousand saved pins she never opens again • How two real housecats inspired Salt & Peppa, a pair of pizza-shop detectives solving mysteries above a Brooklyn pizzeria • H ow one bedtime story grew into an entire fictional world, squirrel included • What a mentor told her when she got her first online hater and how that one reframe changed how she shows up online • Why she fired an executive coach who told her to “calm down,” • The focus trick she uses to manage her big creative energy (picture a garden hose and 20 buckets) • The telemarketing job that gave her confidence she still leans on today • How she tested her very first digital product by making her own son buy it for a dollar • How she learned about email lists and grew her list from zero to 350 subscribers • H ow you should be measuring your own creative progress Whatever your version of "I wonder if I could?" is, my creative friend, consider this episode your permission slip to go find out. Ready to get your creativity rocketing to new heights? Get your free Going FourWords™ Guide: www.bdi-create.today Come and play inside the Going FourWords Clubhouse (as low as $1 your first month): www.bdi-create.today/going-fourwords-membership Meet Salt & Peppa for yourself: https://www.salzandpeppa.com/ Find Salz and Peppa on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SalzandPeppa?section_id=59661031 Loved learning about how you can CREATE-TODAY? Subscribe for new conversations on creativity, connection, and living well every week. 🎧

September 10, 202623 min

E143 - 7 cards to 7 people in 7 days…Make It a Party and Multiply the Goodness!

This week we explore the creativity in sending greeting cards, and the unbelievable goodness they deliver to a chaotic world. Last week we learned about: “Thinking of You Week” (September 21–27, 2026) AND then…how to prepare for the challenge of: 7 cards to 7 people in 7 days. Don't miss Part 2 of this series. This week Beth shares a fabulously fun way to multiply the number of people in the world who will GET a card during Thinking of You Week. Here's the quick peek: Don't prepare alone. Gather your people, and make it a party! Join this conversation as we focus on the GOOD all the Thinking of You cards will shower on our world… You'll discover how you can ratchet up the goodness into a tidal wave of happiness… 🎉💌 The treasures inside this episode: • Why turning your card-writing prep into a Prep Party is a way to have fun AND increase the awareness of Thinking of You Week. • Why a solo good intention rarely finishes the job — and why a "prep party" with your family, friends, neighbors, or book club dramatically increases the odds all seven cards actually make it to the mailbox • Beth's 7 ways to turn your Thinking of You Week prep into an evening people will actually want an attend. From a stationery bar (think coffee bar, but for cards) to turning address-hunting into a group treasure hunt • How to create a party about matching up penpals with another letter-loving friend. And how this can a fun thematic way to support Thinking of You week. • A sobering finding from the U.S. Surgeon General's 2023 advisory on our loneliness epidemic, and why it makes this small gathering even more important! •The published research showing that one act of kindness ripples outward three degrees of separation, and roughly triples in size along the way • A fun thought experiment: what would actually happen if every household in America took on the 7 cards, 7 people, 7 days challenge in the very same week • Why Beth is spending this Saturday with her grandchildren to have a party that will include: cards, pens, and help to get each of her grands create their list of their 7 people. Your homework: Pick a night. Pick your people. Set out some cards, pens, and something delicious, and make getting ready for Thinking of You Week (September 21–27) a great reason to get together with people you love! Catch Part 1 – if you missed it! That's where the list-making details are explained and shared. Resources inside Create-Today! Grab your free Going FourWords™ Guide: https://www.bdi-create.today/fourwords Find creative fun inside the Going FourWords™ Clubhouse (as low as $1 your first month): www.bdi-create.today/going-fourwords-membership Subscribe to the Create-Today with Beth Buffington podcast for new conversations on creativity, connection, and Going FourWords™ with your creativity. 🎧 #ThinkingOfYouWeek #ThinkingOfYouWeekChallenge

September 3, 202627 min

7 cards to 7 people in 7 days - will create happiness (especially for you!)

Send 7 Cards to 7 people in 7 Days: Surprising Science on Why It’ll Make you Happier Every now and then as you flip through your mail – junk, junk, a bill, a catalog... you'll find one... an envelope with a handwritten address. Stop for a moment and think about that little flare of joy that flutters in your heart. You know what I'm talking about. That's what this episode is all about. 💌 The joy a rectangle of paper provides in the humble greeting card. And here's why. It's almost Thinking of You Week (September 21–27, 2026) , and Beth is kicking off a two-part series on the creativity and the science behind sending a greeting card. This week, she explores why sending a card might be one of the simplest, research-backed happiness boosts available to you. And it's easy to concentrate on this month because September 21-27 is Thinking of You Week. In this episode, you'll discover: • The origin story behind Thinking of You Week. It started as a Lenten challenge from photographer Leonard Smith that grew into an international movement backed by the Greeting Card Association • This year's official challenge: seven cards to seven people in seven days (and why "vague intentions rarely turn into actions") • Surprising numbers behind why we are a card culture (even though we are so darn digital) •Americans buy an estimated 6.5 billion greeting cards a year • 7 in 10 card buyers call them "essential," not just nice-to-have • The UK neuroscience research showing a handwritten card lights up the brain differently than a text or email and provides roughly twice the happiness of a social post and three times that of an email • Why a University of Chicago study says you're wrong about how awkward your card will feel. • The science-backed twist: the person who sends the card often ends up happier than the person who receives it • A simple "Who's On Your List?" exercise to help you figure out exactly who needs a card from you this month (including why the person you're most hesitant to write to is probably the one who needs it most) • Beth's 7-step plan to actually pull off seven cards, seven people, seven days • Homework for this week: Make your list of seven people and find their addresses Part 2 is coming next week, and it's all about making the cards and other treasures about the humble greeting card. Discover more from Create Today (AND, get your free Going FourWords™ Guide): www.bdi-create.today Try the Going FourWords Clubhouse ($1 your first month): www.bdi-create.today/going-fourwords-membership 🎧 Subscribe to the Create-Today podcast for the latest chat with about creativity, connection, and living well every week. #ThinkingOfYouWeek #ThinkingOfYouWeekChallenge Timeline: 00:00 Why Cards Matter 03:08 Thinking of You Week 04:11 Origin and Challenge 06:33 Card Culture by Numbers 10:15 Sponsor Going Forwards Clubhouse 13:18 Science of Receiving Cards 16:32 Giving Feels Even Better 18:48 Pick Your Seven People 22:28 Seven Step Prep Plan 27:32 Final Takeaway and Next Episode

August 27, 202645 min

E141 - It's Not Too Late to Get Creative Again with Guest Ilene Berns-Zare, PsyD and author

You're Not Too Old (And It's Not Too Late) to Get Creative Again Psychologist Ilene Berns-Zare joins Beth to unpack the real secret to resilience, creativity, and thriving at midlife and beyond. 🌿 In this episode of Create Today, Beth talks with psychologist, life and leadership coach, and author Ilene Berns-Zare about what it actually takes to build resilience, reconnect with your creativity, and stop believing the story that it's “too late” to reinvent this next chapter. In this episode, you'll discover: • Why resilience isn't something you're born with • “Big C” creativity (the art you set out to make) and the everyday • “Little c” creativity you're already using without realizing it • How to reclaim your creativity at midlife, even if you've told yourself “I'm not creative” • How a single reframe – being told she was a “developmental writer” – that gave Ilene permission to finally write the book she'd been putting off for years • A simple morning gratitude-and-savoring practice that quietly builds real resilience over time • How to give yourself permission (and self-compassion) to prioritize creativity in a busy, chaotic season of life • Why the smallest step – even five minutes – counts as progress toward reinventing this chapter of your life About Ilene: Ilene Berns-Zare, PsyD, PCC, CEC is a psychologist, life and leadership coach, and author of You're Not Too Old and It's Not Too Late: Weekly Practices for Meaning, Mindfulness, and New Possibilities at Midlife and Beyond (MSI Press). She writes the “Flourish and Thrive” blog for Psychology Today and is adjunct faculty in Georgetown University's Transformational Leadership Program. How to contract Ilene Berns-Zare: Ilene's book & coaching: ibzcoaching.com Ilene's Psychology Today blog: psychologytoday.com/us/blog/flourish-and-thrive Resources from Create Today: (Get your free Going FourWords™ Guide): www.bdi-create.today Subscribe to "Create-Today with Beth Buffington" for a new conversation on creativity, resilience, and living well every week. 🎧

August 20, 202629 min

E140 - Ghosting Your Creativity? Seven signs you need to know.

Have you been ghosting your creativity? If your sketchbook, camera, or craft table has gone quiet, this episode covers the real signs of creative burnout, the science behind why creativity keeps you steady, and how to start treating creative self-care like the vital sign it actually is. In this episode of Create Today, Beth Buffington unpacks creative fitness: the idea that a consistent creative practice belongs on your health checklist right alongside sleep, diet, and exercise. You'll hear the science behind why creativity lowers stress (a Netherlands study comparing gardening to reading before a stressful task), why creativity comes before happiness rather than the other way around (Dr. Tamlin Conner's two-week flourishing study), and why skipping creative play leaves your brain stuck in fog (attention restoration theory and “soft fascination”). Then Beth walks you through her Going FourWords™ framework, Revive, Realize, Refine, and Release, applied specifically to your creative vitality. That includes a super simple, two-minute creative reset you can do today and seven signs that you might be ghosting your own creativity without realizing it. Join the Going FourWords™ Clubhouse for just $1 for your first month, then $9/month, and get Beth's Best Books artsy book club, the Recipe Exchange, and an ongoing creative community challenge: https://www.bdi-create.today/going-fourwords-membership Subscribe for a new episode of Create Today every week, and if someone you love has been ghosting their creativity, send them this one. Maybe you work on it together. Time Stamp: 0:00 Have you been ghosting your creativity? 4:00 What creative fitness means (and why your body keeps score) 7:00 The science of creative burnout: gardening vs. cortisol 9:00 Why creativity brings happiness, not the other way around 10:00 Creative fog, explained: attention restoration theory 13:00 Revive: a two-minute creative reset 17:00 Realize: 7 signs you're ghosting your creativity 20:00 Inside the Going FourWords™ Clubhouse ($1 first month) 22:00 Refine: building your creative storehouse 25:00 Release: the Zeigarnik effect and letting go 27:00 Creativity is self-care, not a reward

August 13, 202635 min

E139 - How to Train for Life Using Your Creativity | Lisa Murphy, Vibrant Living Coach

She's 60 and Hiking 133 Miles. Here's Her Secret. What are you training for? Beth welcomes back one of her favorite recurring guests, Lisa Murphy, a Vibrant Living Coach (who helps women in their middle years, through perimenopause, menopause, and beyond) live more vibrantly and take on new adventures. This year Lisa is training for a big one: a nine day, 133 mile through-hike of the Isle of Anglesey coastal path in Wales, in celebration of her 60th birthday. Beth and Lisa use that goal as the starting point for a bigger conversation: what training really means once you take it outside the gym, why momentum beats motivation, and how creativity works as both a break and a reward when you are working toward something hard. They talk through: • Optimism bias • The running shoes method for building any new habit • Why core care, creative care, and community care can create a life that feels vibrant at any age. Discover how you can continue to work with Beth and Lisa by joining Sylva Sessions , an online wellness group that works with women to find more happiness and health by focusing on their Core Care, Creative Care and Community Care. Go to https://www.bdi-create.today/offers/TYb6qQtg/checkout and you can join in the next Sylva Sessions! Timestamp: 0:00 Welcome back and meet Lisa Murphy 1:00 What is a Vibrant Living Coach 2:00 Health and creativity: a hand in glove connection 3:00 Lisa's big goal: 133 miles across Wales for her 60th 4:00 What training actually means 5:00 Turning 60 and finding renewed purpose 7:00 Training is a recipe, not manifestation 8:00 Consistency beats intensity 9:00 The running shoes method for building any habit 11:00 Optimism bias, and why momentum beats motivation 12:00 Two ways Lisa brings creativity into her training 14:00 Finding creativity in an ordinary garden 16:00 Using data and rewards to push through a hard mile 17:00 Creativity as your break and your reward 19:00 Why strength training changes everything after 60 21:00 The one habit that helps you live longer 23:00 Starting slow and finding what works for you 25:00 Momentum, community, and celebrating tiny wins 28:00 Setting goals from a high vibration, not a low one 30:00 Quieting your inner critic 31:00 Do your best, and then go to bed 33:00 What Sylva Sessions really is 34:00 Why core care matters, even for artists 36:00 Your turn: what are you training for? Reach out to Lisa: Get your complimentary session: https://www.lisamurphyllc.com/ Join Beth & Lisa for Sylva Sessions Sylva Sessions is the creative wellness community Beth and Lisa co-host together, covering creative care, core care, and community care. Learn more or register at: https://www.bdi-create.today/offers/TYb6qQtg/checkout Email Beth and let’s chat: beth@bdi-create.today The Create-Today Home Page: https://www.bdi-create.today Subscribe for a new episode of Create-Today every week, and stay creative, my friend!