Curating the Curious
Welcome to Curating the Curious, the podcast that celebrates staying curious in life and never settling into a box.
This show is for the creators, the seekers, the explorers, the truth tellers….and the forever students of life.
No matter what age or stage you’re currently at, this is not as good as it gets and it is never too late to begin.
Join me as we explore all of the questions that come with the idea of curiosity. A place where the possibilities are endless and you can always start again.
We expand our lives through curiosity. One of my greatest passions is finding ways to encourage and inspire others to keep pushing, sharing, living, and making things for the world to see.
Curating the Curious
Day 15- The Secret Tonic of Creativity
Welcome to DAY FIFTEEN of our new 30-day COMMUNITY PROJECT where we make something with our hands every day in order to improve our mental health. We all realize that creativity heals...it's time to put that knowledge into action.
I'm going to publish an episode for you to follow along with several days of each week (I'll take breaks on Fridays and weekends in order to give you time to catch up as needed). These episodes will exist here, marked with the days numbered, in order for you to follow along at any speed that you like. Miss a day? Doesn't matter. Just pick up right where you left off and keep making things. These episodes will give us all some accountability, but if you need more, pair up with a partner. It really does help!
Join our creative community by making something today, whether it's for five minutes or several hours—your brain will thank you. Let's do this thing together and turn all of this sh*t into something beautiful!
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Distance and difference are the secret tonic of creativity. When we get home, home is still the same, but something in our mind has been changed and that changes everything, jonah Lehrer. When I think about beginner's mindset, that curious mind without ego, open to new ideas, new possibilities, techniques, paths, discoveries, you name it, I think of travel. Travel is something that I cherish above any material possession that you could ever think of Having a trip to look forward to in the future, even if it's months away. It's such a light.
Speaker 0:I am not a fancy traveler, I'm not a pretentious traveler. I love getting immersed in whatever culture we visit. I love just putting on walking shoes that can take me miles and miles for hours and hours per day just exploring on foot, and miles for hours and hours per day just exploring on foot. I can reach 20,000 steps in one day, easily, easily if I'm in a new place and I'm getting to explore. I love the comfort of home, I love being able to do my daily walks in this beautiful place that we live. But when I get too comfortable and I start to feel that itch, I know it's time and we start planning. If too many things are happening and we're not able to plan a trip. We find an activity to go and do in LA which is about an hour and a half away from where we live, and we go find a concert, a show, a something to get us out of this little bubble and into a creative environment with cool things to see and to spark imagination. But in regards to when you do get that chance to travel, it's like you get to see the world with new eyes. You're a child, you're experiencing everything for the first time. It's this beginner's mindset, the free fall. It's like a free fall into a new world, a surrender to the unknown.
Speaker 0:The passion I have for travel cannot be put into words. It's ridiculous be put into words. It's ridiculous. Like have you ever noticed how much more beautiful a sunset is in a foreign land than in your own backyard? And I live in Southern California. We have some pretty spectacular sunsets during certain times of the year when we have a little bit of clouds over the ocean. But, man, a sunset in a foreign land. Please do not keep me indoors if I am traveling during sunset. Which brings me to the topic of awe. My family and I went to Europe this summer and I spent 90% of my time in just complete awe. Awe of the colors, awe of the old buildings that had so much character and beauty. The doors I am obsessed with doors, and Portugal is just the land of doors. Beautiful doors, colors, shapes, different types of wood. It is spectacular.
Speaker 0:There's a great book that I have on the topic of awe and it's called Awe, the New Science of Everyday Wonder and how it Can Transform your Life. It's by Dacher Keltner. I did do an episode on this a long time ago and I don't know which episode it is, unfortunately. I'll try and look for it so that I can somehow point you to it. But awe is so important to have in our lives. It makes a difference in your mental health, your physical health, your creativity. You become a kid again, open, open mind, and awe will just challenge what we thought we knew about the world. In Dacher Keltner's book about awe he writes about what he calls the eight wonders that are capable of inspiring awe. Those eight wonders I already talked about them in my episode a long time ago, but I'll name them again because it's so important Nature, music, visual design, epiphanies, moral beauty like acts of kindness, spiritual and religious experiences, the cycle from birth to death and last, the collective effervescence.
Speaker 0:And collective effervescence is one that I freaking love. It's like the feeling of unity at a sporting event or a concert. One of my favorite moments of collective effervescence that I have experienced recently is one of my best friend's wedding. Recently is one of my best friend's wedding. I consider his new husband to be, oh my gosh, just as important as he has been for the last, you know, 25 years of my life. So when I say one of my best friend's wedding, I mean both of theirs. My memories of that day, oh, it was just so filled with so much love, so much joy. The most fun family you have ever seen in your life. Talk about a room filled with love. It does not get any better than what it was that day. I was so grateful that my daughter was able to witness that and to take part in that. I didn't get up and say any speech, but he does listen, so here's my speech.
Speaker 0:So if travel and collective effervescence might be, you know, one of the most difficult ways to incorporate awe into your everyday, what are some easier ways of finding that? Nature, music, visual design, creating things, art, looking at art in person. Hopefully these things are healing and for my project. Today I am going to get out my new paints and my new paint brushes that I ordered for this class that I signed up for. Unfortunately, I just I signed up for this class and I thought it started at the end of this month found out that it starts the end of next month, so I'm just going to be, you know, free falling with my own I don't know what, until this class starts, which is fine, right, because we're looking for a beginner's mindset. I'm probably just going to look up a few YouTube tutorials and things like that to get started, and I'm sure that you've noticed I sound pretty sick.
Speaker 0:So I told you in the last episode that I was back and then, about a day and a half later, I came down with the worst case of bronchitis. I mean coughing up a lung, lost my voice completely, not sleeping. I barely have a voice today, but I'm like, oh my God, I'm trying to do this. So I am here, I'm back again many days later. I do not give up, if that's one thing I can say about myself. I may fall, I may fall hard when I fall, but I always get back up and I always come back and I stick to something when I make a promise. So I promise this damn 30 days, and it is going to happen, I don't know how fast.
Speaker 0:Hopefully my voice stays with me after today, but if I do disappear, that's why I'm going to leave you with a quote that I love so much, that can be interpreted through the eyes of travel, but also so much deeper.
Speaker 0:It's called the physics of the quest. If you're brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting which can be anything from your house to bitter old resentments and set out on a truth seeking journey, either externally or internally, and if you're truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue, and if you accept everyone you meet along the way, as a teacher, and if you are prepared, most of all, to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you. This sums up the last five years for me Midlife, awakening our ever-changing political climate, watching the unmasking of the world around us. Lots of uncomfortable truths, but also lots of clues. I'm beginning to feel very wise and very, very ready to turn 50 in November. Not too wise, though, don't worry, I'm aware of how little I really know. So until we meet again, which is hopefully tomorrow, if my voice allows me, stay curious.
