Former psychotherapist, painter, and accomplished author
Dear readers and writers welcome to my new interview story, which introduces another book author and an accomplished writer whose writing impressed me a lot. I enjoy interacting with people from diverse cultures, countries, and professional backgrounds. I have been interviewing professionals for a long time. I am writing this from my secondary account to find new readers for these interviews. For those unfamiliar, my main account is Dr Mehmet Yildiz.
On this platform, I specifically enjoy interviewing writers. Each writer’s interview is special to me as each person is unique. My goal is to introduce them to my audience so that they can meet another interesting/relatable person on this planet and explore their work. I discussed the Importance and Remarkable Benefits of Interviews in My Professional and Personal Life.
In this interview, I’d like to introduce you to one of my favorite authors Danielle Benvenuto. I have known Danielle for a while as she has been contributing to my publications on Medium. I found her stories, artistic work, and previous work in mental health captivating so I decided to introduce her to my audience via this short interview.
Hi Danielle, tell us a bit about your background.
I’m originally from the USA, where I spent 15 years in New York City working as a psychotherapist and energy healer, integrating Western and Eastern treatment approaches in my work.
About seven years ago, I left it all. I felt a strong call for something different though I didn’t know what that was at the time. My hunch was to go to Berlin and there I discovered, a year after arriving, a new vision.
I began painting and soon started exhibiting my work in galleries. In the past year, I’ve been focusing exclusively on my writing, in particular, personal essays and poetry.
So, a painter too… What kind of paintings do you do?
My works tend to be abstract. In general, I like using geometric forms but in a loose and emotional rather than intellectual or esoteric way. Lately, I’ve been using words in my paintings in a mixed media format. I did a series on body parts a couple years back which was a whole lot of fun!
One of my hallmark works are my soul portraits where instead of painting your physical portrait, I paint what I experience to be your energy field or soul form. During the painting process, I channel your energy and on canvas what comes to life is a geometric design, arrangements of circles and colors which represent your soul energy.
During the process, I get messages about your life path (an intuitive process similar to what one might experience in a tarot session) which I then write down in the form of a letter that I send with your painting. People have really taken a liking to these!
It sounds like with your soul portraits, you bring in your past work as a psychotherapist and energy healer. Why did you leave that work?
I grew tired of it and while it was a passion at the time, over time, I started to feel something was missing.
At first, I started getting creative within the work, integrating eastern and western modalities, lecturing at New York University, giving workshops even on occasion integrating tarot with my work. I also founded and designed a co-working space in midtown Manhattan for mental health professionals. All of that helped, but still I didn’t feel complete.
Then, I realized that not only did I not want to live in NYC anymore, I didn’t want to be a therapist either. It was a huge revelation. I took off to Berlin and a year later, I found myself in a whole new life, doing something I never imagined before.
What are your values as a writer?
I write what I need to digest and work out from my life. The act of writing helps me figure out things about myself and life. Therefore, what drives me first and foremost is authenticity.
Being real with myself and my readers — it’s where I come alive and it’s also where I have the most fun even if it makes me feel uncomfortable. I aim for that in fact — to be in and embrace the unknown. This approach has only led me to deeper levels of freedom. I hope that my work inspires readers to do the same.
I write for myself but it’s always with the aim of generating a dialogue. I love conversation. I love questions. I love what gets created in a meeting of minds.
What are the success factors for you as a writer on Medium?
In the past six months after being on Medium actively for a year and a half, I’ve started to make decent money. The factors contributing to that have been time, pushing myself as a writer to develop my voice, going out of my comfort zone and really spending time with my pieces.
I publish one piece a month, sometimes two, but rarely. My last seven pieces were boosted and I am sure it’s because I didn’t rush my writing process. I’m also open to feedback from editors.
In general, I’m not into publishing things every week just for the sake of consistency or productivity. It really bores me, all that talk. I find my writing gets boring too. I prize taking risks, experimenting and being open to feedback over all that. The pressure to produce or be consistent just leads, in my opinion, to ego battles, emptiness and a general lack of joy in the process.
How do you get the inspiration for your pieces?
I live my life. Life is abundant with inspiration if you participate open-heartedly.
How do you connect with your readers?
I have a blog called How Lost Can You Get?. There you can see all of my work. I love hearing from my readers and I respond to everyone that reaches out.
What are some stories that you want to share with your audience and why?
Here are four stories that really gave me valuable insights:
-A fave on the nature of CREATIVITY and how to harness by David Paul Kirkpatrick.
How to Train Your Daimon and Realize Your True Potential
How to handle the dangerous tensions that come with being a highly creative personbetterhumans.pub
-Great advice on WRITING MEMOIRS by channeling “ORDINARY” experience. by Kelly Eden Kelly Eden | Essayist | Writing Coach
My Life is Very Ordinary But It Still Sells
How can you be a writer with an unexceptional life?writingcooperative.com
-A fave author on all things SCIENCE, this one focusing on DIGESTIVE ISSUES and enzymes. Dr Mehmet Yildiz (Main)
Digestive Enzymes: Multiple Benefits and Managing Deficiencies for Optimal Health
Apart from my lifesaver lipase, exploring the multifaceted benefits of digestive enzymes beyond digestion based on…medium.com
And finally, one of my own stories on the nature of LONELINESS, creativity, and FINDING PURPOSE in life.
Here’s a Question That May Change the Way You Look at Life (Forever)
A simple yet radical perspective on loneliness, life purpose, and living your best lifebetterhumans.pub
Can you please share some of your paintings here for our readers?
Yes, I’d be happy to do that. Here are some samples from my website:
Thank you for sharing these beautiful paintings and I appreciate your precious time to give us a glimpse of your life. 🙏
You can contact Danielle from the following platforms:
WEBSITE: DANIELLE BENVENUTO
BLOG/PUBLICATIONS: HOW LOST CAN YOU GET?
INSTAS: ITISYOUR_LIFE
Quick Updates
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ILLUMINATION, Curated Newsletters, SYNERGY (Newsletter Booster), and Technology Hits.
A Brief Intro to our Extending Community Bridging Medium with Substack in Innovative and Collaborative Ways
Now we have a great plan for our Substack Mastery of ILLUMINATION Community I drafted the plan on my website and look forward to your feedback and engagement.
ILLUMINATION Substack Community Support — Dr Mehmet Yildiz
This is a summary of 3-tier service offerings for creators, freelance writers, and content entrepreneurs on Substack…digitalmehmet.com
How I Architected a Charity Organization & Why I Will Run It Like a Business
Outline of my draft plan for creators, freelancers, and entrepreneurs empowered by the Substack networkmedium.com
Update on Substack Mastery Book
I recently wrote a book titled Substack Mastery. It has already become a best seller on Amazon. If you are interested, I decided to share the early version as one chapter a day for my beta readers. Here are the available chapters on this this platform which also provides free access to non-members.
Preface of “Substack Mastery” for Beta Readers, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19.
For those interested in taking their Substack to another level, here is a link where you can buy the Substack Mastery book through multiple online bookstores globally:
If you are a book author, you may try these additional publishing companies. In the next few days, my book will published on several more platforms, including Tolino via Thalia, which is one of my favorite ones in Europe, as it helped one of my books to be a best seller for 12 months.
The funds generated from this book will be donated to the management of the Substack Mastery site for the ILLUMINATION community. This education site also amplifies the newsletters of freelance writers.
I wrote about my monthly progress on eight different platforms to give an idea to fellow writers. It is an independent review and could be valuable for aspiring writers.
An In-Depth Performance Review of 8 Major Platforms I Contributed to This Month: Key Insights and…
Discover an independent and comprehensive analysis of my contributions and performance across multiple platforms…medium.com
Please explore some leading newsletters featured by ILLUMINATION-Curators in episode 12. It is an excellent collaboration tool for growing your Substack profile and newsletters.
Substack Mastery Featured Newsletters: Episode 12
Curated newsletters of writers contributing to the Substack Mastery publication on Medium for joyful collaboration and…medium.com
Links to Previous Interview Interviews
I interviewed other writers on this platform. The following links will allow you to easily access them. Follow the writers who resonate with you.
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Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
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Guidance to Guest Bloggers on Digitalmehmet — Dr Mehmet Yildiz
Digitalmehmet.com now offers guest blogging service to Substack writers and storytellers from Medium.com. This service…digitalmehmet.com
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How to Use the ILLUMINATION Substack Mastery YouTube Channel to Grow Your Audience
Practical tips to upload your videos to our community channel as writers on Medium, Substack, and other platformsmedium.com
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