What if creativity isn’t a talent reserved for artists, but part of your inner guidance system—a way of reconnecting with who you truly are and discovering what wants to emerge through you?
Creative and life coach, award-winning author, and teacher Marisa Handler joins Elaine to explore creativity as life force, receiving, and authentic self-expression. Marisa shares how a profound dark night of the soul dismantled the achievement-driven way she had been living and led her toward a more organic creative process rooted in opening, listening, inspiration, and partnership with The Divine.
You’ll discover why abundance is an “inside job,” how trying to fit yourself into someone else’s creative box can block your own gifts, and why inner change often precedes the external transformation you want. This conversation invites you to stop performing who you think you should be, reconnect with your one-in-eight-billion creative genius, and create from greater trust, spaciousness, authenticity, and co-creation.
Topics Covered
- 0:00 Is creativity part of your inner guidance system?
- 3:44 Breathing, Intention, and “there’s no wrong way to do this”
- 7:21 Marisa’s dark night and a new way of creating
- 11:29 Creativity as life force—and learning to receive
- 12:48 Why abundance is an inside job
- 16:18 Releasing the illusion of control
- 19:04 Opening the channel to receive more
- 21:35 Stop fitting yourself into someone else’s box
- 25:15 Your uniqueness helps your people find you
- 27:14 Agency, obstacles, and the inner shift that changes things
- 30:55 Hiring the Heavens and playful co-creation
- 32:45 Creative Archetypes, breakthrough sessions, and living your genius
- 35:51 The Divine as your creative dance partner
Key Takeaways (Skimmable Wins)
- Creativity is not limited to artistic talent; Marisa describes it as life force that belongs to everyone and expresses itself through different gifts.
- A production-first approach can choke creativity. Receiving, opening, listening, and inspiration can create a more sustainable path back to expression.
- Abundance begins internally as spaciousness, ease, fullness, and trust—not simply as material wealth.
- Trying to imitate someone you admire can hide the very uniqueness that allows your people to recognize and connect with you.
- You may not control what happens, but you have meaningful agency in how you meet it—and the obstacle itself can become part of the path.
- Living your creative genius is a co-creative process: you bring your distinct gifts while remaining open to guidance, synchronicity, and something greater.
Step-by-Step Process Shared
Reconnect with Your Creative Genius
- Stop forcing production → Notice where pushing, performing, or trying to “make it happen” has disconnected you from your natural creative energy.
- Open to receive → Make room for beauty, love, care, inspiration, and the abundance already present in your life.
- Return to what is authentically yours → Notice where you are trying to fit yourself into someone else’s box and reconnect with your distinct gifts and expression.
- Meet what is in the way → Treat obstacles, old wounds, and patterns of self-abandonment as material to meet honestly and skillfully rather than bypass.
- Create in co-creation → Take the next aligned action while releasing the illusion that you have to control the entire outcome.
Listen to the episode for Marisa’s personal story, client examples, and the lived nuances behind each of these ideas.
Questions Answered in This Episode
- What if I don’t think of myself as a creative person?
- How did Marisa’s dark night of the soul transform the way she creates and teaches?
- Why can pushing harder and focusing on production actually make creativity more difficult?
- What does abundance feel like when it begins on the inside?
- How do I stop performing who I think I should be and discover my own creative genius?
- What can I change internally when I want my external life to transform?
Pull Quotes
“Creativity to me is, it’s a form of life force, of life energy. We all have it.” — Marisa Handler
“I think abundance is an inside job.” — Marisa Handler
“Your creative genius, it’s, it’s one in eight billion.” — Marisa Handler
Free Gift
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Marisa’s Gifts & Next Steps
Creative Archetypes Quiz: Take the free five-minute quiz
Discover your unique creative archetype, including the gifts, blocks, and next steps that come with it.
Unleash Your Creative Genius Breakthrough Session: Apply for a complimentary session (valued at $300)
Explore your boldest, most beautiful vision with Marisa and what it may take to move toward it.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
- The Five Love Languages — referenced by Elaine while discussing how people recognize and receive love differently.
- Conversations with God — Neale Donald Walsch’s work, which Marisa says opened things up for her when she was young.
- Hiring the Heavens — referenced by Elaine in her playful practice of asking angels for help.
- Martha Graham — referenced by Marisa for the idea of the creative “channel” being open; no hyperlink is embedded in the transcript.
- Ryōkan — referenced as an example of deep internal abundance with few material possessions.
- Lynne McTaggart — referenced for her work with intention.
- Marcus Aurelius — referenced for the idea that “the obstacle is the path.
- Sigmund Freud — referenced in connection with repetition compulsion.
About the Guest
Marisa Handler is a creative and life coach, award-winning author, and teacher whose work lives at the intersection of personal transformation and collective awakening. A Fulbright Fellow and Iowa Writers’ Workshop alumna, she has spent more than two decades guiding people to reconnect with their creative genius and truest self as a doorway to purpose, meaning, and abundance. She is the founder of Live Your Creative Genius, author of the Nautilus Gold Award-winning Loyal to the Sky and the forthcoming Sanctuary, and has taught at Stanford, Spirit Rock, Esalen, and Gaia House in the UK.
Website: marisahandler.com
Facebook: Marisa Handler
LinkedIn: Marisa Handler
Instagram: @marisasings
About the Host – Elaine Starling
Elaine Starling, The Abundance Ambassador, is an international TEDx speaker, bestselling author, coach, and host of The Abundance Journey. Through her signature program, The Inner Power Protocol, Elaine guides spiritually-minded women to reconnect with Divine guidance, awaken their inner wisdom, and activate abundance in every area of life.
Website: TheAbundanceJourney.com
Facebook: Elaine Starling
LinkedIn: Elaine Starling
YouTube: @ElaineStarling
TEDx: Watch Elaine’s TEDx talk
Book: The Abundance Journey
Connect & Support
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Loved this episode of The Abundance Journey: The Creative Genius Within with Marisa Handler. Big aha: creativity isn’t something only certain people possess—it’s a form of life force that becomes more available when we stop forcing, open to receive, and express who we authentically are. Listen or watch to reconnect with your own one-in-eight-billion creative genius.
#CreativeGenius #AuthenticSelfExpression #CreativeBlocks #InnerAbundance #LearningToReceive #CreativeLife #SpiritualGrowth #MarisaHandler #ElaineStarling #TheAbundanceJourney
