Create Magic At Work®

What parts of ourselves did we leave behind when we learned how to be professional? For some of us, it was singing. For others, creativity, play, vulnerability, or the willingness to connect with someone whose worldview looks nothing like our own. Somewhere along the way, being human can become something we carefully manage rather than something we fully inhabit. Amy and Benjamin Mertz explore what happens when we bring those parts of ourselves back into the room. Drawing from the Black spiritual and civil rights music traditions, Benjamin describes how communal singing can dissolve defenses and reconnect people to joy, courage, and one another. Their conversation expands into dialogue across differences, the importance of community when we feel stuck, making “good trouble” at work, and what it means to protect our humanity as AI becomes more present in our lives. Hope, Benjamin suggests, does not have to be something we wait to feel. It can become something we practice through service, creativity, connection, and the way we treat the people around us. Perhaps staying human is not something we accomplish alone. It is something we keep reminding one another how to do. Moments That Create Momentum: We Were Made to Create – Explore why singing, dancing, and making art still matter even when no one is performing, competing, or trying to be the best. Freedom Is Not Individual – Discover how community can help us remember who we are when our own thinking has left us feeling stuck. Disagreement Is Not Danger – Hear how to stay expansive and hold space for our differences. Good Trouble Builds Resilience – See why speaking up in small ways can strengthen a team before a much larger storm arrives. Be a Hope – Recognize how hope becomes more tangible when we practice it through service, connection, creativity, and integrity. About the Guest: BenjaSoul is a composer, pianist and song leader who has led music of the Black Spiritual tradition for 20 years. He leads music at benefit concerts, protest actions, sacred services, and Black History workshops. He is currently the board chair of the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, an immigrant rights and anti-incarceration nonprofit organization. He has worked in the Civil Rights space his entire life. Benja is also a certified executive coach through the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute. He helped develop BEC's inclusive leadership programs and teaches Leadership presence with Dr. Mark Rittenberg's team at the Haas School of Business. He has facilitated leadership workshops across many industries, including healthcare, education, and tech. He is currently pursuing a Master's in History, focusing his thesis on the history of the Civil Rights movement. When not teaching, performing, or causing good trouble, Benja is at home being the proud father of Isaiah, Sammy, and baby Amarachi. https://benjaminmertz.com https://benjasoul.com Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity: htpps://im4humanintegrity.org About Amy: Amy Lynn Durham, known by her clients as the Corporate Mystic, is the founder of the Executive Coaching Firm, Create Magic At Work®, where they help leaders build workplaces rooted in creativity, collaboration, and fulfillment. A former corporate executive turned Executive Coach, Amy blends practical leadership strategies with spiritual intelligence to unlock human potential at work. She’s a certified Executive Coach through UC Berkeley & the International Coaching Federation (ICF) In addition, Amy holds coaching certifications in Spiritual Intelligence (SQ21), the Edgewalker Profile, and the Archetypes of Change . In addition to being the host of the Create Magic At Work® podcast, Amy is the author of Create Magic At Work®, Creating Career Magic: A Daily Prompt Journal and the founder of Magic Thread Media™. Through her work, she inspires intentional leadership for thriving workplaces and lives where “magic” becomes reality. Connect with Amy: https://createmagicatwork.net/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/create-magic-at-work https://www.facebook.com/112951637095427 https://www.instagram.com/createmagicatwork https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnEm4h3fUgaq8qgvZpz6dGg Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you are enjoying the show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.

When it comes to creativity, wonderful friends and a bustling social life aren’t enough. We need the six relationships most important for creative health. In her fifteen years of creativity coaching, Rachel Efron identified six creativity relationships: allies, mentors, role models, mentees, collaborators, and nature/spirit. If you have a couple of these, your creativity will thank you. If you have many of them, you’ll feel a synergy between your creatiivty and the world around you. If you have all six of them, god help this world handle everything you’re about to create! Rachel explains the six relationships with personal anecdotes: her first experiences with each one of the relationships. Hear about her verbose first mentor. Hear about her shoddy piano teaching practice. Hear about her realization that she and the Pacific Ocean are both sparkly and salty. And discover the amazing power of each of the creativity relationships in your life. A creative ally is a fellow traveler on the creative road. A mentor guides with the wisdom of experience. A role model gives you a map to your becoming.. Mentees remind us of how much we have to offer. Collaborators locate new aspects of our creative voices, and spirit/nature teaches us that when we create, we belong to the world around us. The deeper invitation is not to surround ourselves with more people. It is to notice what our creativity needs relationally. Because sometimes the missing resource is not another idea, more discipline, or greater confidence. Sometimes it’s learning how to involve others in our creative process. Sparks of Insight Creative connection has very little to do with popularity or social skill. What matters is whether the relationships in your life actually support your creativity. Six different relationships nourish six different dimensions of creative health: allies, mentors, role models, mentees, collaborators, and nature or spirit. Rachel’s first creative ally showed her what happens when two people become enchanted by each other’s creative process. Mentees may be one of the most overlooked creative resources. Serving someone is a straight line to our self-worth. It’s a beautiful thing to let the people in our lives be exactly who they are to us… to let our friends be friends and our parents be parents, and to seek creative connection in the six relationships where we know it will be. Ready to reveal your creative Spark? Download the Muzi app at http://itunes.apple.com/app/id6739667782 to take the Creativity Assessment, and uncover your Spark profile. Then email your Spark to Rachel at [email protected] for a chance at a Spark Reading, where Rachel will offer personalized insight into what your creativity most needs from you right now. About Rachel: Rachel Efron is an Oakland-based songwriter, producer, and creativity coach. She's released four full-length albums of original songs, plus written for such legends as Narada Michael Walden and Journey. Rachel is a premier songwriting coach for songwriters across the world, and has over fifteen years experience helping artists, leaders, and teams find their voice. In 2022, Rachel turned her methods into a comprehensive framework and groundbreaking app, Muzi, to help everyone —artists and non-artists alike—access greater creativity in their lives. email: [email protected] website: https://www.rachelefron.com/creativity Download the Muzi app at http://itunes.apple.com/app/id6739667782 Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you are enjoying the show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.

Today’s reflection explores what changes when we give ourselves permission to stop pushing and make room for rest. By considering what rest truly means for us, we can begin to recognize where greater ease and flow may be needed. Start your own journey of reflection, creativity, and intentional growth with the Create Magic at Work Journal or bring the wisdom of the Edgewalker mindset into your daily life with your own copy of the Edgewalker Card Deck. You can find both at https://magicthreadmedia.com/experience

What happens to your communication when someone pushes exactly the right button? Strategy can disappear quickly when the nervous system feels threatened. We become defensive, rush to prove our point, or get pulled into the emotional energy of the person across from us. The conversation may still be happening, but we are no longer fully present inside it. Amy and trial lawyer Jennifer Gardner explore what it takes to remain grounded when the stakes are high. Drawing from decades inside intense courtroom situations, Jennifer shares why self-regulation is not separate from effective communication. It is what makes clear thinking, presence, and persuasion possible in the first place. Their conversation moves from grounding through the body to the deeper work of humanizing the person on the other side. Jennifer also examines the line between ethical persuasion and manipulation, including how likability, empathy, and emotional connection can be used either in service of understanding or as tools for control. The goal is not to become impossible to trigger. It is to recognize the moment you are losing yourself, return to what matters, and choose how you want to respond before fear, ego, or defensiveness chooses for you. Moments That Create Momentum: Don’t Take the Bait – Explore why regulating yourself first can keep conflict from deciding how you communicate. Come Back to the Body – Learn how grounding and breath can help restore clarity when the pressure around you begins to escalate. Humanize Before You Persuade – Discover why understanding another person’s reality can make communication more compelling without abandoning your own position. Notice the Shadow of Persuasion – Recognize how likability and emotional connection can create influence, and when those same tools begin to feel manipulative. Hard Truths Still Need to Be Spoken – See how difficult conversations can create greater inner peace when your actions remain aligned with what you believe. About the Guest: Jennifer B. Gardner is a Los Angeles-based trial lawyer, speaker, and persuasion expert who helps high-performing leaders strengthen their executive presence, communication, and influence. She has operated her own litigation firm for more than 30 years and has handled complex business, real estate, and criminal matters through trial. Jennifer holds executive certifications from the Wharton School in leadership, influence and persuasion, and neuroscience for business. Through The Edge Education, she teaches leaders and lawyers how to communicate more effectively, navigate high-stakes situations, and achieve stronger results with less stress. https://jenniferbgardner.com/ About Amy: Amy Lynn Durham, known by her clients as the Corporate Mystic, is the founder of the Executive Coaching Firm, Create Magic At Work®, where they help leaders build workplaces rooted in creativity, collaboration, and fulfillment. A former corporate executive turned Executive Coach, Amy blends practical leadership strategies with spiritual intelligence to unlock human potential at work. She’s a certified Executive Coach through UC Berkeley & the International Coaching Federation (ICF) In addition, Amy holds coaching certifications in Spiritual Intelligence (SQ21), the Edgewalker Profile, and the Archetypes of Change . In addition to being the host of the Create Magic At Work® podcast, Amy is the author of Create Magic At Work®, Creating Career Magic: A Daily Prompt Journal and the founder of Magic Thread Media™. Through her work, she inspires intentional leadership for thriving workplaces and lives where “magic” becomes reality. Connect with Amy: https://createmagicatwork.net/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/create-magic-at-work https://www.facebook.com/112951637095427 https://www.instagram.com/createmagicatwork https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnEm4h3fUgaq8qgvZpz6dGg Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you are enjoying the show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.

Today’s Edgewalker card explores how vision can emerge through presence and deep listening. When we slow down enough to notice what others may overlook, we create space to recognize possibilities, patterns, and guidance that can shape what comes next. Start your own journey of reflection, creativity, and intentional growth with the Create Magic at Work Journal or bring the wisdom of the Edgewalker mindset into your daily life with your own copy of the Edgewalker Card Deck. You can find both at https://magicthreadmedia.com/experience