Sleeping at Last on the Enneagram and Creativity

One of the things that’s always been profoundly interesting to me is the personal and psychological relationship artists have with their work. From finding new sources of creativity, to actually managing their own internal psychological states through the creation of art, there’s always seemed to be such a rich territory, and interplay, between the internal world of the artist and the external expression of art. 

I can think of few better examples of this than today’s guest, an incredible singer-songwriter, producer and composer that you might know by the name Sleeping at Last: Ryan O’Neal.

Over the last seven years Ryan has worked on his Atlas series, an ongoing series of songs based on and inspired by the origins of the universe and all the life that lies within it.  This includes an incredible series of songs based on the Enneagram of Personality, which is my favorite personality typing system.

We explore:

3:00: Sleeping at Last’s background and artistic origin story.

6:30: Music as a kind of journal. 

8:30: How masks allow for vulnerability.

11:10: Writing in theme, and finding safe spaces for emotion through art. 

17:00: Sleeping at Last’s creative process. 

20:00: The Enneagram. 

25:00: Forrest and Type 6

30:30: Ryan and Type 9.

33:50: 6 by Sleeping at Last

38:15: Learning about people through art.

43:00: Pressure. 

44:45: Increasing creative output. 

53:00: A message to Ryan's younger self. 

Listen to the fantastic Sleeping at Last Podcast! On it, Ryan explains the process and inspiration behind his music, and I couldn’t recommend it more strongly.

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