Elizabeth Gilbert—beloved author of City of Girls; Eat, Pray, Love;and Big Magic—opened up In goop Health Los Angeles with GP. We cried. We laughed. They talked about creativity, spirituality, grief, and mothering. “I think of creativity as a relationship—not between self and self but between self and mystery,” says Gilbert. For Gilbert, the simplest way for us to connect with a force greater than ourselves is through creativity with a little c. (To be clear: This does not mean you need to be a writer or a self-described creative. There are a lot of ways to create in the world, which they get into.) Gilbert said one profound thing after another, but her perspective on the relationship between creativity and grief will stick with us forever. Creativity, Gilbert teaches, can get us through some hard moments. It can be a path to learning how to love, care, and mother ourselves. And it can help us find those strange jewels that the universe has buried within us. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)