Deborah Anne Quibell – Deep Creativity: Book Review & Audio Summary

Book Info

• Book name: Deep Creativity: Seven Ways to Spark Your Creative Spirit
• Author: Deborah Anne Quibell, Jennifer Leigh Selig, Dennis Patrick Slattery
• Genre: Self-Help & Personal Development
• Published Year: 2020
• Language: English

Audio Summary

Synopsis

Deep Creativity explores the profound creative potential living within each of us, waiting to be awakened. Written by three depth psychologists, this transformative guide reveals seven pathways to access your innate creative spirit through love, nature, ritual, and more. Drawing from personal stories and depth psychology principles, the authors demonstrate that creativity isn’t reserved for artists—it’s a fundamental aspect of human consciousness that emerges from our subconscious depths. Through reflective questions and inspiring narratives, this book invites readers to honor their creative impulses rather than push them away, ultimately discovering that embracing deep creativity enriches every aspect of life and reconnects us with ourselves, others, and the natural world.

Key Takeaways

• Creativity exists in everyone at a deep, subconscious level and should be cultivated rather than suppressed when creative impulses arise
• Love—whether romantic, for creation itself, or for the particularity of the world—serves as a powerful catalyst for unlocking creative expression
• Engaging with nature through creative practices reminds us of our interconnectedness with the world and makes the invisible visible
• Establishing rituals and sacred time for creative work, even in the early morning hours, creates clarity and opens channels to inspiration
• Creativity is reciprocal—when we celebrate the beauty around us through our creative gifts, we honor both ourselves and the world

My Summary

Rediscovering the Creative Spark We’ve Been Ignoring

I’ll be honest—when I first picked up Deep Creativity, I was skeptical. Another book about creativity? Haven’t we covered this territory enough? But within the first few pages, I realized this wasn’t just another “unleash your inner artist” manual. This book approaches creativity from a completely different angle, one rooted in depth psychology and the understanding that creativity isn’t something we need to manufacture—it’s already flowing beneath the surface of our consciousness, waiting for us to acknowledge it.

What struck me most powerfully was the opening premise: we are all creative, whether we believe it or not. The three authors—Deborah Anne Quibell, Jennifer Leigh Selig, and Dennis Patrick Slattery—aren’t talking about the kind of creativity that produces museum-worthy paintings or bestselling novels (though it can). They’re talking about something deeper, more fundamental to human experience. They call it “deep creativity,” and it’s the imaginative force that generates our dreams, fantasies, moods, and ideas.

Think about it. When you dream at night, you’re creating entire worlds, complete with characters, plots, and emotional landscapes. Nobody taught you how to do that—it just happens. That’s your subconscious being wildly, uncontrollably creative. The question the authors pose is simple but profound: What if we honored that creativity in our waking lives?

When Love Becomes the Gateway to Creation

The first pathway to deep creativity the authors explore is love, and they approach it with refreshing nuance. Sure, romantic love has inspired countless works of art throughout history. They mention Dante, who encountered Beatrice just once and spent years writing poetry inspired by that fleeting moment. But the authors push beyond the romantic cliché to explore other forms of love that fuel creativity.

Dennis’s story particularly resonated with me. After decades away from painting, he picked up a brush again, only to remember why he’d stopped—a high school teacher had criticized him for painting trees in unrealistic colors. Can you imagine? A teacher crushing a student’s creative spirit over color choices? Unfortunately, I can, because I’ve heard similar stories countless times. What I loved about Dennis’s revelation was his realization that realism wasn’t the point. The point was his love of creation itself.

This distinction matters enormously in our current cultural moment, where social media has created a tyranny of comparison. We see polished, professional-looking creative work everywhere we scroll, and it’s easy to think, “Well, I could never do that, so why bother?” But Dennis’s experience reminds us that the joy of creating—the actual process of making something—is valuable regardless of the outcome.

Deborah offers a counterpoint that I found equally valuable. She talks about loving “the particularity of the world”—really seeing and appreciating reality as it is. She asks us to look at autumn leaves and notice their specific story: the way they curl, brown, and eventually fall. This kind of attentive love for detail is something I’ve been trying to cultivate in my own writing. It’s easy to skim the surface of experience, but when you slow down and really observe, the world becomes infinitely more interesting.

Jennifer’s contribution to this section hit me hard. At twelve years old, she was shot at point-blank range by a friend. The gun was loaded with blanks, but she didn’t know that in the moment. That near-death experience opened her to what she calls “the simple joy of existence.” Reading this, I thought about how many of us sleepwalk through life, waiting for some future moment when we’ll finally start living fully. Jennifer’s story is a stark reminder that life is happening now, and loving it—really loving it—can unlock tremendous creative energy.

Nature as Mirror and Muse

The second pathway explores our relationship with nature, and this section felt particularly urgent given our current environmental crisis and our increasingly screen-mediated lives. Jennifer, who practices photography alongside writing, describes how bringing a camera into nature transforms her perception. Suddenly, she notices colors, shapes, and light in ways she wouldn’t otherwise.

But here’s what I found most compelling: she emphasizes that engaging with nature creatively reminds her that she is part of nature, not just an observer of it. This isn’t some abstract philosophical point—it has real implications for how we create. When we see ourselves as separate from nature, we approach it as tourists or consumers. When we recognize our place within it, our creative work becomes an act of kinship.

Dennis’s spider web story illustrates this beautifully. Sitting on a log in the forest, he noticed a web on a nearby bush. A moment later, when he shifted position, it vanished—just a trick of the light. But this disappearing act reminded him that we often don’t see what’s right in front of us. He compared this to poetry’s function: revealing what was always there but invisible to us.

This resonates deeply with my experience as a writer. The best writing doesn’t invent reality; it reveals reality in ways we hadn’t noticed before. It makes the invisible visible, just like shifting your angle to catch the spider’s web in the light.

Deborah’s sea turtle encounter brought tears to my eyes when I first read it. She’d spent an entire diving trip in the Virgin Islands hoping to see sea turtles, nearly giving up before finally swimming alongside one. She observed its minimal, purposeful movements—the calm wisdom with which it navigated the ocean. In our frantic, productivity-obsessed culture, there’s something revolutionary about learning from a sea turtle’s serene stillness.

But Deborah also recognized something reciprocal in the encounter. The sea turtle offered her a gift—its presence, its example—and she felt called to use her creative gifts in service of nature, to celebrate its beauty. This idea of creativity as reciprocal relationship rather than extractive exploitation feels crucial right now. We take so much from nature; what if our creative work could be a form of giving back?

The Sacred Ritual of Creative Practice

The third pathway discussed involves ritual and sacred time, exemplified by Dennis’s daily practice of waking at 4 AM to light a candle and incense, then read, write, and think in the quiet darkness. When I first read this, I thought, “Well, that’s lovely for him, but I’m not a morning person.” But the deeper point isn’t about the specific time—it’s about creating sacred space for creativity.

In depth psychology, ritual serves to mark transitions between different states of consciousness. When Dennis lights his candle and incense, he’s not just being atmospheric—he’s signaling to his psyche that it’s time to shift from everyday consciousness to creative consciousness. The ritual creates a threshold, a doorway into deeper awareness.

This concept has transformed my own creative practice. I used to wait for inspiration to strike, treating creativity as something that happened to me rather than something I could cultivate. Now I understand that establishing rituals—even simple ones like making a specific tea or sitting in a particular chair—can invite creativity rather than waiting passively for it to arrive.

The early morning hours Dennis describes offer what he calls “clarity and inspiration.” There’s something about that liminal time, when the world is still asleep and your mind hasn’t yet filled with the day’s demands, that opens creative channels. But again, the specific time matters less than the commitment to protecting space for creative work.

Why Deep Creativity Matters Now More Than Ever

Reading Deep Creativity in our current moment feels particularly relevant. We’re living through an era of unprecedented anxiety, environmental crisis, political polarization, and technological disruption. Many people feel disconnected—from themselves, from others, from nature, from meaning itself.

The authors suggest that reconnecting with our deep creativity can address some of this disconnection. When we create, we’re not just making things—we’re engaging with the deepest parts of ourselves, the parts that exist beneath our social masks and defensive postures. We’re also connecting with something larger than ourselves, whether we call it the collective unconscious, the creative spirit, or simply the human capacity for imagination.

In practical terms, this means that cultivating deep creativity isn’t a luxury or a hobby—it’s essential to psychological health and wholeness. The authors come from a depth psychology background, which means they understand the psyche as something vast and largely unconscious, with creativity serving as a bridge between conscious and unconscious realms.

When we push away creative impulses—telling ourselves we’re too busy, not talented enough, or that creativity is frivolous—we’re essentially cutting ourselves off from a vital source of meaning and vitality. The authors warn that the more we push creativity away, the less it will visit us. It’s like ignoring a friend who keeps calling—eventually, they stop reaching out.

Bringing Deep Creativity Into Daily Life

One of the book’s strengths is its emphasis on accessibility. The authors aren’t suggesting you quit your job to become a full-time artist. Instead, they offer practical ways to honor creativity within the life you’re already living.

First, start noticing your creative impulses without immediately judging or dismissing them. If you feel drawn to take a photograph, write a sentence, hum a melody, or rearrange your furniture, pause and acknowledge that impulse. You don’t have to act on every creative nudge, but recognizing them honors the creative spirit within you.

Second, establish small rituals that signal to your psyche that creative time is sacred. This might be as simple as lighting a candle before you journal, taking a specific route on walks when you want to think creatively, or designating a particular playlist for creative work. The ritual doesn’t need to be elaborate—it just needs to be consistent and meaningful to you.

Third, spend time in nature with creative awareness. You don’t need to produce anything—just notice. Look at the way light falls through leaves. Listen to the rhythm of waves or wind. Feel the texture of bark or stone. This attentive presence is itself a creative act, one that feeds future creativity.

Fourth, explore different forms of creative expression without attachment to outcomes. If you’re a writer, try painting. If you’re a musician, try photography. The point isn’t to become good at everything—it’s to keep the creative channels open and flexible. Cross-training in creativity, if you will.

Fifth, create space for dreams, fantasies, and daydreaming. Our productivity-obsessed culture treats these as wastes of time, but from a depth psychology perspective, they’re essential creative activities. Keep a dream journal. Allow yourself to daydream without guilt. Notice the images and stories your psyche generates spontaneously.

What Works and What’s Missing

Deep Creativity’s greatest strength is its theoretical foundation in depth psychology. Unlike many creativity books that offer techniques without context, this one provides a rich understanding of why creativity matters psychologically and spiritually. The personal stories from all three authors add authenticity and relatability—these aren’t distant experts prescribing from on high, but fellow travelers sharing their own creative journeys.

The book’s reflective questions throughout each section encourage active engagement rather than passive reading. This isn’t a book to race through; it’s one to sit with, ponder, and return to repeatedly. I found myself pausing frequently to consider my own responses to the questions posed.

However, the book does have limitations. While the authors mention seven pathways to deep creativity, the summary I read only covered three in detail (love, nature, and ritual). I’m curious about the other four pathways and wish I had access to the complete picture. This might be a strategic choice—offering enough to whet the appetite without overwhelming—but it left me wanting more.

Additionally, while the authors acknowledge that we’re all creative, they don’t deeply address the systemic barriers many people face in accessing their creativity. Economic pressure, caregiving responsibilities, trauma, and marginalization all impact our ability to establish creative practices. A more robust discussion of these realities would strengthen the book’s accessibility.

The depth psychology framework, while rich, may also feel unfamiliar or esoteric to some readers. The authors do a good job of making concepts accessible, but readers without any background in psychology might occasionally feel lost. That said, the personal stories ground the theory in ways that make it digestible.

How This Compares to Other Creativity Books

Deep Creativity occupies an interesting space in the creativity literature. Unlike Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, which offers a structured 12-week program with specific exercises, this book is more contemplative and less prescriptive. It’s closer in spirit to Clarissa Pinkola Estés’s Women Who Run With the Wolves, with its emphasis on depth psychology and the creative soul.

Where Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art focuses on overcoming resistance and treating creativity as a discipline, Deep Creativity emphasizes receptivity and honoring what already exists within us. Both approaches have value, but they serve different needs. Pressfield is your tough-love coach; Quibell, Selig, and Slattery are your wise companions on the journey.

Compared to Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, which celebrates creativity with infectious enthusiasm and practical advice, Deep Creativity goes deeper (as the title suggests) into the psychological and spiritual dimensions of creative life. Gilbert’s book might get you excited to start creating; this one helps you understand why creation matters at a soul level.

Questions Worth Sitting With

As I finished reading about Deep Creativity, several questions stayed with me, and I think they’re worth pondering:

What creative impulses have you been pushing away, and what would it mean to welcome them instead? Think about those moments when you feel drawn to create something—anything—but talk yourself out of it. What are you really afraid of?

How might your life change if you treated creativity not as a hobby or talent, but as a fundamental aspect of being human, as essential as breathing? What would you prioritize differently? What would you protect?

I don’t have definitive answers to these questions, and I suspect the authors don’t either. The point isn’t to solve them but to live with them, allowing them to work on us over time.

Finding Your Own Path to Deep Creativity

What I appreciate most about Deep Creativity is that it doesn’t prescribe a single path. The seven pathways the authors describe aren’t a checklist to complete—they’re invitations to explore. Some will resonate more than others, and that’s exactly as it should be.

Your deep creativity will look different from mine, which will look different from the authors’, and that’s the beauty of it. The goal isn’t to become a certain type of creative person but to become more fully yourself, with creativity as a vehicle for that becoming.

As someone who’s spent years writing and thinking about books, I can tell you that the ones that matter most aren’t necessarily the ones with the most practical tips or the clearest action plans. The ones that matter are the ones that change how you see yourself and the world. Deep Creativity has that potential.

If you’re feeling disconnected from your creative spirit, if you’ve been telling yourself you’re “not creative,” or if you’ve been pushing away those persistent creative nudges, this book offers a different way forward. It’s not about becoming someone you’re not—it’s about recognizing and honoring who you already are at the deepest level.

I’d love to hear about your own experiences with creativity. What blocks you? What liberates you? What would it mean for you to embrace your deep creativity? Drop a comment below and let’s continue this conversation. After all, creativity thrives in community, in the sharing of stories and insights. Your creative journey matters, and I’m honored to be part of this exploration alongside you.