162: The Courage to Process the Heavy 4 Emotions and Live with Creativity and Gratitude with Emily Francis and Julia Abramoff

Table of Contents

Today we discuss processing and releasing shame, guilt, grief, and trauma, and learning to live a life full of creativity and gratitude.

My first guest, Emily Francis, is a highly sought-after speaker, best-selling author, and wellness expert with an array of education and experience spanning over 20 years. She joins me today to discuss how our bodies absorb and store trauma, how we can process and release it along with any shame, guilt, or grief, and what we can do to make room for more happiness, joy, connection, and empowerment in our lives along with an ability to speak and listen to the wisdom of our own bodies.

My second guest, Julia Abramoff, is cofounder, copublisher, and director of editorial at Apollo Publishers, an adult non-fiction book publishing house based out of New York City. She joins me today to talk about Amy Oestreicher’s book, Creativity and Gratitude, and to share her inspiring message about looking at life through a lens of creativity, gratitude, and inspiration in order to find the beauty in every day.

“Amy’s message is that we’re all creatives, we all have stories to tell. We all should share stories. We should all find beauty in the every day. We should all be grateful for our detours, even if they led us to places that we didn’t see coming. That’s OK. There’s beauty in that.” – Julia Abramoff

We Discuss:

Understanding the way that our bodies absorb and store trauma, and how to release it
How to process the Heavy 4 emotions – Shame, Guilt, Grief, & Trauma
Why “trauma” is more than you think: i.e. childbirth, a car accident, living through a pandemic
How to make room for the Fabulous 4 emotions – Happiness, Joy, Connection, & Empowerment
Using the wisdom of the body to find hope in the darkness of addictions
The process of moving from suppression to releasing negative emotions
Breathing, meditations, and simple practices that help you get into a calm space
How we can use hope, creativity, and gratitude to get through the pandemic
Why gratitude helps us understand our values and what direction we need to go
How creative expression gently engages us with emotions that may be too overwhelming for words
The importance of storytelling and how it helps us to process our experiences and gain confidence

“When we talk about healing, we constantly focus on the trauma. And we should because you have to do that work first, but we’re not just a series of overlapping traumas. Embedded into our muscle memory, into the fascia, into all of the soft tissues, are the memories of incredible bliss and joy. Those muscles have been storing that incredible experience the way that we also store trauma.” – Emily Francis

About Emily:

Emily A. Francis is a highly sought-after speaker, best-selling author, and wellness expert with an array of education and experience spanning over 20 years.

Her knowledge of the body, as well as the body/mind connection, is extensive and her commitment to total body, mind, and spirit wellness is her driving force. She believes in a whole body, proactive approach to wellness where balance is the key and kindness paves the way.

Emily is the host of the internet radio show All About Healing on Healthy Life Radio.

She has a Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science and Wellness, BS & Masters in Physical Education/Human Performance Concentration.

Emily graduated from the Atlanta School of Massage in clinical and neuromuscular massage therapy and went on to specialize through the Dr. Vodder School North America for a MLD/CDT in manual lymphatic drainage and combined de-congestive therapy, working specifically with lymphedema.

Emily holds a Gold Medal in the US Open in Tai Chi Forms, is a Usui & Karuna Ki Reiki master level practitioner, and has over 300 hours of yoga teacher training. To learn more, visit: https://www.emilyafrancisbooks.com.

“You need to learn how to listen to the story that your body actually has and not only the narrative of the mind. Because your mind is subject to interpretation – it’s very open to other people’s voices and other things, but your body is not.” – Emily A. Francis

“Our detours might be major health problems like Amy had that really shook her in such an unexpected way, or our detours might be everyday things. It could be little bumps in our marriages, in our careers, in our relationships. It could be little bumps in the road – any kind of detour. But, it can lead us somewhere that we didn’t expect. And that’s OK.” – Julia Abramoff

About Julia:

Julia Abramoff is cofounder, copublisher, and director of editorial at Apollo Publishers, an adult non-fiction book publishing house based out of New York City.

Previously, she worked as a book editor for more than a decade at publishing houses such as HarperCollins and has published multiple bestsellers. Julia acquired and edited Amy Oestreicher’s book Creativity & Gratitude.

Amy Oestreicher was among the most inspiring people you could ever meet. Her book, Creativity and Gratitude: Exercises and Inspiration for a Year of Art, Hope, and Healing (April 2021; Apollo Publishers), is a helpful tool to look back on the past year and plan out how we want to move forward.

Amy survived both childhood abuse and unbelievable medical trauma (including a months-long coma and many years during which—after a total gastrectomy—she couldn’t eat or even drink a single drop of water) to build a thriving career as a speaker, Audie Award-nominated playwright, performer, artist, and activist. Amy shared her story in outlets like the TODAY Show, Seventeen, Broadway World, the Washington Post, multiple TEDx talks, a touring one-woman show, and more.

In the very timely Creativity and Gratitude, she distills the lessons on survival she learned in her life into a 52-week program that will help readers use four key principles—hope, gratitude, creativity, and storytelling—to overcome whatever detours life has thrown their way. The principles will teach readers how to use their innate creativity to overcome loss, anxiety, and unexpected challenges.

“So many of us now are stuck at home. We’ve all been home during these COVID times with this creative energy growing inside, and Amy was able to say, “Here is how I found release even when I was stuck inside,” And there’s something lovely in that.” – Julia Abramoff

Check out the videos below to watch our interviews:

Resources Mentioned:

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