Summary: In this episode the amazing powerhouse Alanis Morissette and I talk about:<br> <br> Vulnerability<br> Strength with Femininity and balancing the Yin/Yang or Masculine and Feminine essence<br> The effect of success on the creative process<br> How anger can actually build intimacy in relationship<br> And finally, Alanis gives her one piece of advice for women who are on the precipice of their own Emergence.<br> <br> <br> <br> Tune in to listen to my conversation "Creative Intimacy and the Merging of Yin and Yang" with Alanis Morissette.<br> Subscribe to the Emerging Women podcast on iTunes.<br> Transcript:<br> <br> Chantal Pierrat: You’re listening to Grace and Fire, brought to you by Emerging Women. In today’s episode, Alanis and I spoke about vulnerability, strength, and femininity; and balancing the yin yang or masculine and feminine essence; the effect of success on the creative process; how anger can actually build intimacy in relationship; and finally, Alanis gives her one piece of advice for women who are on the precipice of their own emergence. Here is my conversation, “Creative Intimacy and the Merging of Yin and Yang” with the amazing and talented Alanis Morissette.<br> <br> OK, welcome, Alanis.<br> <br> Alanis Morissette: Thank you for having me.<br> <br> CP: This is such an honor. I just want to lay all my cards out on the table here. [Laughs] I’m feeling a little star struck, and I’m usually a pretty cool cat, I can hold my own, but at this point I’m feeling incredibly vulnerable.<br> <br> <br> <br> AM: Oh!<br> <br> CP: You’ve just had such an impact on my life, especially as a young woman, and I just want to get it out there and let you know that. I think I’m speaking for every one of our listeners that were born in this time that were influenced by Jagged Little Pill and your other albums—and I want to get into that a little bit, your new album. So there it is. It’s out on the table. So if I fumble—<br> <br> AM: [Laughs] And you’re still alive and you’re still safe and everything’s still OK.<br> <br> CP: I’m still OK! That’s right!<br> <br> AM: That’s so sweet, thank you.<br> <br> CP: Well, I thought I’d try and level the playing field a little bit and go in super deep on our first question, and hopefully that will the OK.<br> <br> AM: Yeah, go for the jugular, I live for that. [Laughs]<br> <br> CP: [Laughs] Great! So, with regards to vulnerability, when do you feel the most vulnerable? When do you feel the most naked?<br> <br> AM: I feel the most vulnerable with my husband, probably. I’m a big Harville Hendrix, Helen LaKelly Hunt, Imago therapy model fan, so I just really see that the degree of commitment and intimacy is commensurate to the degree of healing available. So for me, there’s no bigger commitment than marriage. Definitely motherhood, too, is a near second for obvious reasons.<br> <br> But the commitment of marriage is really vulnerable and really intentional, so there’s the great vulnerability of coming together in that three-phase process, in theory. There’s the infatuation that brings us together, all the chemistry and the animal stuff, and then there’s that disillusionment that turns into that power struggle and conflict. And in the theory, we could segue into this third phase where we actually help heal each other’s wounds and pull each other out of this survival strategy that helped us survive as kids into this wholeness. That’s the theory of it, and now I’m actually experiencing it in practice, which is incredibly vulnerable.<br> <br> And then there’s also a whole other chapter about deepening my vulnerability with my girlfriends, and just letting intimacy be the terrorizing thing that it can be, but also the beautifully healing thing that it can be. And there’s a great quote—the other day, my friend said, “The soul is shy.
