What Healing Really Feels Like (Hint: It's Not Dramatic)

What if the strongest sign of emotional and energetic healing is that you feel ... nothing? No drama, no spike of emotion, no old charge. Just calm.

In this episode Jill Marshall explores the quiet, surprising truth of real transformation. She unpacks why we cling to wounds, how triggers show us where energy is still trapped, and what shifts when the emotional charge finally dissolves. Expect grounded psychology, soulful insight and a fresh look at who you become once old patterns stop running the show.

If you're wondering whether you're actually healing or just coping, this episode will help you recognise the subtle signs that you're further along than you think.

Tune in for a calm, clear, powerful download on what healing feels like from the inside out.

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome to The Download with Jill Marshall
00:36 The unexpected feeling of healing
02:21 A personal healing milestone
04:43 Understanding triggers and the energetic charge
11:13 Wounds, archetypes and old identities
14:53 Why true healing feels subtle
17:31 Reflecting on your own healing
18:40 An invitation to explore your own feeling of healing
19:47 Closing reflections and next steps

Mentioned episodes:

Imprint, Wound, Archetype: three layers we carry and can heal

The Shadow Knows: when downloads reveal what we've hidden

“The wound releases you the moment you choose peace over the familiar pain.”

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Find out more about Jill’s best-selling fiction and storyworlds on girlpowerpublishing.com.

Find The Download Podcast on YouTube, FaceBook, Instagram,
Apple Podcasts, Spotify and LinkedIn

December is a month of thresholds, reflection and new beginnings. In this episode, Jill Marshall announces her six-month Creative Residency and shares how she is dedicating serious, focused time to her own creative work.

Drawing inspiration from Brendon Burchard’s Progress Mode podcast, Jill reflects not only on his storytelling but also on his insight that if we devoted six months entirely to our own purposeful creative work, rather than everyone else’s priorities, we could achieve real change.

Jill explores the power of authentic storytelling, the difference between buzzword ‘storytelling’ and real narrative, and the transformative potential of structured creative residencies. She shares her experience hosting residencies for children’s writers, the ways residencies have nurtured major works, and how even a self-directed residency — without funding or a dedicated space — can provide focus, clarity and freedom.

She also outlines her plans for the next six months: writing a psychological, women-focussed novel, recording audiobooks, adapting novels for screen, launching new projects, reshaping her podcast, and honouring her own creative ‘downloads’.

Whether you are a writer, artist or simply seeking time to focus on your most important work, this episode is a call to step fully into your creativity and commit to what matters.

Key Takeaways:

• Why December is the perfect month to start anew
• How Brendon Burchard’s six-month focus insight inspired a personal residency
• The difference between buzzword ‘storytelling’ and authentic narrative
• The power and importance of residencies in fostering creativity
• Examples of residencies that have nurtured major works
• Strategies for creating your own self-directed, structured creative space
• A roadmap for Jill’s six-month creative goals and projects
• A heartfelt invitation to honour your own creative downloads

Timestamps:
00:00 - Welcome to The Download
00:26 - The Magic of December
01:16 - Announcing My Creative Residency
02:20 - Inspiration from Brendon Burchard’s Progress Mode
04:35 - The Power of True Storytelling and Six-Month Focus
09:34 - Why Creative Residencies Matter
12:13 - My Creative Goals for the Next Six Months
14:24 - Final Thoughts & Invitation

Listen and subscribe to The Download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite platform to follow Jill’s Creative Residency journey and get inspired to honour your own creative downloads.

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Find out more about Jill’s best-selling fiction and storyworlds on girlpowerpublishing.com.

Find The Download Podcast on YouTube, FaceBook, Instagram,
Apple Podcasts, Spotify and LinkedIn

Season of Friends — Old Friends, Gold Friends

If you want to understand the friendships that shape a lifetime, listen to this.
In this finale of the Season of Friends, Jill explores the two kinds of friends: the ones who are old in age, and the ones who are old in time. Both offer something essential. Both anchor a life in different but equally powerful ways.

The episode opens with the line from Robert Fisher:
“True friendship is not about being inseparable; it is about being separated and nothing changes.”
A perfect lens for the season’s closing theme: not proximity, but constancy.

Jill reflects on the friends who arrive later in life with humour, vitality and a refreshing take on ageing. These older-in-years friendships show us that new connections can be just as rich as lifelong ones.

She then turns to the friend who has known her the longest. A relationship built across decades of shared history, deep roots and the rare ability to witness every version of who we have been.

What makes this episode different is its focus on longevity.
Old in years, teaching us how to live expansively at any stage.
Old in time, reminding us who we have always been.

Old friends.
Gold friends.
Each one proof that friendship shapes our past, enriches our present and expands our future.

A new season of The Download is coming soon.

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Find out more about Jill’s best-selling fiction and storyworlds on girlpowerpublishing.com.

Find The Download Podcast on YouTube, FaceBook, Instagram,
Apple Podcasts, Spotify and LinkedIn

The Friend Called Inspiration: How a Life Cracks Open and Creates Again

This episode's image - “A Ship Called Inspire Me” - is doing double-duty. Yes, it’s a nod to a certain Deacon Blue earworm - but it’s also a play on the modern sense of “I ship this.”

This episode explores what happens when you finally decide to ship your own relationship with Inspiration - not as a fleeting spark, but as a consistent, quiet companion that’s been trying to get your attention for years.

In this deeply personal episode of The Download, Jill explores her lifelong relationship with Inspiration — from childhood to the “millennium moment” in Jan 2000 that launched her into over a decade of publishing success, to the fall-out in and from 2011 that took everything away … and the surprising creative resurgence that followed.

This isn’t an episode about productivity. It’s about listening. Following. Trusting.
It’s about the friend who never leaves - even when the world does.

If you’ve ever felt creatively lost, cut off from opportunity, or afraid the magic has gone… this episode will remind you that Inspiration doesn’t disappear.
She simply waits for you to hear her again.

• Why creativity often erupts after heartbreak or loss
• How to tune in when inspiration is whispering - or screaming
• What Jung, Leonard Cohen, Wilke, Goethe and other greats understood about inspiration as an autonomous force
• The difference between external success and true creative alignment
• How inspiration fuels life choices, not just artistic output
• Practical ways to “make space” for Inspiration to return

00:03 — Meeting Inspiration as a lifelong friend like Bridget Jones
06:40 — The Millennium Moment: the lightning bolt
10:20 — The golden decade of publishing success
16:55 — The 2011 collapse & the fall-out era
23:15 — Writing in the wilderness years
28:30 — Inspiration beyond books: moves, performances, podcasts, apps
33:00 — What Jung and the greats say about inspiration
39:45 — Nine essential lessons for living an inspired life
45:00 — Closing invitation to the listener

Enjoying the Bridget alignment? Listen to Jill's episode on creative vision in 'The Bridget Jones Blueprint'.

And if you'd like to try Breathe, one of the YA novels Jill discusses in the episode, the Breathe Kindle is free on Amazon from 21 - 26 November 2025.

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Find out more about Jill’s best-selling fiction and storyworlds on girlpowerpublishing.com.

Find The Download Podcast on YouTube, FaceBook, Instagram,
Apple Podcasts, Spotify and LinkedIn

Who Do You Think You Are? Join Jill Marshall on The Download: Season of Friends as she celebrates 25 years of adventures with her friend, Sally. From castles and ancestral mysteries to hilarious mishaps and unforgettable encounters, their friendship turns explorations of ancestry and folklore into a playground. This special birthday episode is full of laughter, discovery, and the magic of saying “yes” to every adventure.

Jill recounts their numerous explorations and historical jaunts, ranging from Edinburgh to Dover and Versailles. Both driven by a love for ghost stories, history and mystery, their journeys are filled with laughter, unexpected encounters and genealogical discoveries. This special birthday tribute captures their shared adventures and the deep, soulful bond that has developed over the years, blending stories of ancestral ties, historical landmarks, and the magic of lifelong friendship.

00:00 Welcome to the Download

00:34 The Season of Friends: Celebrating Sally

01:20 Adventures in Castles and Beyond

03:22 The Orange Coat Incidents

04:37 Versailles and the Golf Cart Escapade

05:00 Who Do You Think You Are?

06:01 Belvoir Castle and Ancestral Discoveries

11:20 The Living Tapestry of Friendship

12:30 A Birthday Tribute to Sally

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Like to work with Jill?

Try Jill's unique six-month mentorships: Fiction Editor and The Her-ro’s Journey.

The Fiction Editor Mentorship Programme isn’t about proofreading or copy editing — it’s a full developmental editing immersion and an entry point to a business choice, built on Jill's careers as both author and editor.

The Her-ro’s Journey Mentorship Programme is a contemporary take on the Hero’s and Heroine’s journeys, exploring many of the themes we cover here on The Download.

Find out more about Jill’s best-selling fiction and storyworlds on girlpowerpublishing.com.

Find The Download Podcast on YouTube, FaceBook, Instagram,
Apple Podcasts, Spotify and LinkedIn

A Miraculous Reunion and the Essence of Friendship

Hours before her dear friend Jane’s passing, Jill experienced a miracle that reunited them. In this encore episode, she reflects on love, timing, and the creative threads that bind friendship across time and memory.

In this episode of The Download, host Jill Marshall commemorates her dear friend from childhood and adolescence, Jane, who tragically passed away two years ago. Jill shares the miraculous story of reconnecting with Jane just hours before her untimely death. Jill's heartfelt narrative delves into teenage memories, lifelong friendships, and the intertwining of past and present. The episode also explores the origins of creative ideas and the deeper themes behind them, using Jill's young adult book 'Fan Mail' as an example - which is hugely founded on Jill and Jane's friendship as teenagers. The encore episode highlights the power of love and timing, the significance of deep connections, and how art can resonate profoundly with its audience and especially its creator.

00:00 Introduction and Tribute to Jane
00:43 Welcome to The Download Podcast
01:22 The Origin of Stories and Ideas
02:51 The Miracle Meeting with Jane
03:15 Fan Mail: The Story Behind the Story
06:13 Reconnecting with Jane
08:06 Jane's Tragic Accident
09:12 The True Meaning of Fan Mail
10:10 A Final Miracle and Tribute
11:39 Conclusion and Reflections

If you'd like to read Fanmail (YA fiction, fun for all!) it's available free on Amazon Kindle from 5th to 10th November 2025, to commemorate Jane's larger than life spirit and presence. Fanmail eBook : Marshall, Jill: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

Fanmail is also available in paperback from Amazon and your local bookstore, and as an Audible Audiobook, narrated by the brilliant Leo Haig.

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Like to work with Jill?

Try Jill's unique six-month mentorships: Fiction Editor and The Her-ro’s Journey.

The Fiction Editor Mentorship Programme isn’t about proofreading or copy editing — it’s a full developmental editing immersion and an entry point to a business choice, built on Jill's careers as both author and editor.

The Her-ro’s Journey Mentorship Programme is a contemporary take on the Hero’s and Heroine’s journeys, exploring many of the themes we cover here on The Download.

Find out more about Jill’s best-selling fiction and storyworlds on girlpowerpublishing.com.

Find The Download Podcast on YouTube, FaceBook, Instagram,
Apple Podcasts, Spotify and LinkedIn

A reflection on the friendships that grow, the ones that ground, and the fellowships that make us whole.

Join host Jill Marshall in this heartfelt episode of The Download Podcast as she explores the intricate dynamics of friendships in her 'season of friends'. From fleeting 'trendships' rooted in shared passions to lifelong bonds that transcend external changes, Jill delves into the reasons, seasons, and lifetimes of friendships. Using literary examples and personal anecdotes, she reflects on how each type of friendship plays a vital role in personal growth and grounding. Whether you're navigating new connections or cherishing old ones, this episode invites you to appreciate the magic of friendships in all their forms.

00:00 Welcome to the podcast

00:38 Exploring the Concept of 'Trendship'

02:51 Friendship in Literature and Life

04:54 The Dynamics of Seasonal Trendships

06:56 The Essence of Lifelong Friendships

09:32 Trendship and Friendship Through Life Stages

13:03 A Love Letter to Friends

14:14 Closing Thoughts and Gratitude

You can find The Two Miss Parsons on Amazon and Audible and for order in your local bookstore.

For more about Jill’s books, mentorship and collaborations, go to girlpowerpublishing.com

Message Us!

Like to work with Jill?

Try Jill's unique six-month mentorships: Fiction Editor and The Her-ro’s Journey.

The Fiction Editor Mentorship Programme isn’t about proofreading or copy editing — it’s a full developmental editing immersion and an entry point to a business choice, built on Jill's careers as both author and editor.

The Her-ro’s Journey Mentorship Programme is a contemporary take on the Hero’s and Heroine’s journeys, exploring many of the themes we cover here on The Download.

Find out more about Jill’s best-selling fiction and storyworlds on girlpowerpublishing.com.

Find The Download Podcast on YouTube, FaceBook, Instagram,
Apple Podcasts, Spotify and LinkedIn

In this 'Friends Season' of The Download, Jill shares 'a tale of two writers' that bridges books, friendship, and the mysterious ways the universe weaves them together. What begins as a reflection on World Book Day unfolds into the friendship frequency - and a children’s book that somehow finds its way, decades later and half a world away, into the hands of the next generation.

It’s a story about friendship that endures across time and distance, about intuitive connections that defy logic, and about the magical threads that run through our creative lives. From Winchester to Auckland, from one Fairy House to another, this is a gentle reminder that stories have their own frequencies — and they always know where to find us.

Along the way, Jill celebrates World Book Day, her long friendship with author Kelly McKain, and the synchronicity of a book rediscovered at the exact right moment.

Listen if you love: real-life magic, creative friendships, and stories that remind you the universe is always in conversation.

Links:

• World Book Dayhttps://www.worldbookday.com/
  
  
• Kelly McKain’s books
  
  
• Jane Blonde The Perfect Spylet - a World Book Day Mini Mission

Message Us!

Like to work with Jill?

Try Jill's unique six-month mentorships: Fiction Editor and The Her-ro’s Journey.

The Fiction Editor Mentorship Programme isn’t about proofreading or copy editing — it’s a full developmental editing immersion and an entry point to a business choice, built on Jill's careers as both author and editor.

The Her-ro’s Journey Mentorship Programme is a contemporary take on the Hero’s and Heroine’s journeys, exploring many of the themes we cover here on The Download.

Find out more about Jill’s best-selling fiction and storyworlds on girlpowerpublishing.com.

Find The Download Podcast on YouTube, FaceBook, Instagram,
Apple Podcasts, Spotify and LinkedIn