(275) Gary Fabbri: Unlock Your Inner Artist

(275) Unlock Your Inner Artist with Gary Fabbri

Gary Fabbri. 

Some of the magic we covered: 

-        How to unlock your inner artist

-        The surprising ways in which creativity shows up

-        Difference between creativity and art

-        The importance of appreciation

And so much more! 

 VIDEO OF THE EPISODE: 

🎬 YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/-ILXRd6FfI8 

 BOOK:

📖 Check out my book on Focus: The Magic of Focus

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RELEVANT LINKS: 

📘 The Artist Way: https://juliacameronlive.com/the-artists-way/
 
 

WATCH NEXT: 

🎬 (175) Overcome Your Inner Critic, And Skyrocket Your Writing with Kim Marsh 

🎬 (218) Big Magic, Creativity and All That Jazz 

🎬 (219) Wonder and Rigor with The Creativity Whisperer, Natalie Nixon

EXCLUSIVE: 

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ABOUT GARY:

As an artist and creative catalyst, Gary’s mission is to inspire and guide people to unlock potential and drive for success in all aspects of life … personally and professionally.
 
 In the same way that an artist struggles to convey their ideas and feelings through their work, we explore how to overcome the blockages and challenges to self-expression and authorship in your life.
 
 Gary is dedicated to tapping into inner wisdom to transform lives and celebrate success along the way.

CONNECT WITH GARY

✨ WEBSITE: www.garyfabbri.com

📷 INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/garyfabbri

🌟 LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garyfabbri/ 

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✨ LINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/thefocusbee

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📝 BLOG: https://thefocusbee.substack.com/

ABOUT THE HOST:

💫 Hi, I’m Katie – engineer turned entrepreneur. I am the founder of The Focus Bee, award-winning, international, high-performance company.

🚀 As a keynote speaker, I frequently speak at summits, conferences & podcasts. For my weekly podcast ‘The Focus Bee Show’, I interview thought leaders, speakers and authors. 

🔥My mission is to empower people to lead with Alignment & Purpose & Joy so that they can Connect with the Magic & Thrive!

Transcript

Katie: 0:00

Welcome back to the Focus B show. This is Katie Stoddart here, aka the Focus B. And on this show, I interview high performers and leaders around the world to discover their secrets on peak performance, productivity, mindfulness and leadership. So if you want to take your performance and your leadership to the next level, then you're in the right place. Listen up and connect with the magic. Such a joy to be here with Gary Fabri. Gary is an artist and a creative catalyst. His mission is to inspire and guide people to unlock their inner artists and drive success in all aspects of life, both personally and professionally. He supports people to overcome the blockages and challenges to self expression by tapping into their inner wisdom. Gary, welcome to the show. It's wonderful to have you here today.

Gary: 1:05

Thanks. It's great to be here.

Katie: 1:07

I'm really excited about our topic. We first met when you were doing and holding the meditation session. And since then we spoke and you told me that you work with helping people to unlock their inner artists. I'd love you to sort of explain what you mean by unlock your inner artists and why that's an important topic for you.

Gary: 1:26

Sure. So for me, I feel like inside of us, we have an inner artist. Some people might call it the inner child or a part of us that really is genuinely playful, that really appreciates the world around us. And it's from that point that we actually see the most important things for us. I mean, in general, like, we can think about, let's say, regular intelligence. We can talk about emotional intelligence, which is super important. But when we think about, let's say, the idea of artistic intelligence, it's a little bit about the things that we surround ourselves with, you know, the colors that we appreciate, the forms and shapes, the buildings that we live in. All that is an expression of our inner artist, I think. And so I think that when we're more aware of that, then we start to become able to discern what things we want more of in our lives. That's kind of the idea.

Katie: 2:21

I love it. And I've never heard the term artistic intelligence. That's the first time I hear this. When did this become a topic for you? First start to be interested in this.

Gary: 2:31

So I've been an artist for a long time, a visual artist, painter and filmmaker. And always whenever anyone's asked, where do you get your ideas? Or how do you become an artist? Or what is it that's most important to express, or how do you find your voice? And so I started to especially meditate a lot and to get into the kind of esoteric world, of yoga and Sufism and all this kind of stuff. And I realized that there has been a tradition of kind of diving deep into yourself and then expressing yourself more and more clearly. And I thought, oh, these two are linked together. And so this idea of artistic intelligence came to me as, like an idea that I should pursue, because I felt like, you know, the things that make a difference in our lives are mostly either the emotional things or the artistic things. Otherwise everything would look exactly the same. We wouldn't care about what colors we had on or anything like that. But we do, of course, we do care, and it makes a huge impact to our lives.

Katie: 3:40

I have so many questions that came to me, and one of them was, how do we find our voice? Which we might get back to later, but the other one that I'm thinking is, why do we suppress our autistic nature? Because I think in today's society, it's a lot about reasoning and rationalizing and prefrontal cortex activities. And we have a tendency to not look or ignore or push away. What's that about?

Gary: 4:04

So I think there's in general, a kind of push towards, if we want to call it success. And so we feel like we have to pursue money as an abstract thing. And most of us don't even really even appreciate money, I think, and certainly don't know about the mechanics of actual how money works and everything like that, but we have been sold this idea, like, we have to make money. We have to make money. Actually, I don't know if that's necessarily really true. To make a good life, do we need. Yeah, we need money, but do we need to have money in itself? Or is it obviously the things that we can buy with the money and all the ways that we can utilize it? So I think that we've fooled ourselves into believing that other things are important when actually, if we start thinking about it, it's like when you go into a shop and you choosing between different things, you choose the one that appeals to you. Now, there's a whole marketing system that's been based on building up, kind of like helping you to make choices instead of driving you one direction or the other. And we're kind of suckers for that color form, all these kind of things that make up product, and that is all art, really, or at least artistic expression. So those people who are designing products, who are designing the packaging and the marketing, they are thinking about how to grab your attention, and that's your artistic eye that's being grabbed?

Katie: 5:30

I think so. We are surrounded by arts, we just don't realize it.

Gary: 5:34

Exactly. Yeah. We are basically surrounded by this stuff all over the place. And the things that we prefer, we prefer because of the way that they look, because of the way that they smell like perfume making is artistic. Right. So it's all that kind of stuff. Yeah. So it's more prevalent than we give ourselves credit for. And we should appreciate this stuff. And then the people who do, they have nicer stuff around them and then they get, you know, it's a snowball effect in a positive way, too.

Katie: 6:03

This is so interesting because it's making me reflect that. I think sometimes when my creativity is slightly repressed, or if I put it differently, if I'm not engaging in creative activities that I normally do, such as music and writing, and then I feel that I want to shop and I think it's a creative. Sometimes I go in a shop or a bookshop and I look at all the books everywhere and it looks so beautiful and it appeals to my visual senses, sometimes auditory, depends where we are with shopping place and then the colors. And I think it's exactly this. And I'd never seen it that way. I'd always thought, I just need a dopamine kick. And I'm not getting it from being in flow and doing an activity. And I have this urge to shop. Of course, I don't actually shop a lot because it doesn't work.

Gary: 6:50

Yeah, it's not sustainable. Right.

Katie: 6:52

Not sustainable. But also, you just get a dopamine here and then what next? You just want to buy more stuff and there's no point. But it's more. I noticed this urge. So I'm thinking it's probably also this creativity that sometimes is repressed. And I'm wondering if sometimes you have this, for instance, if you feel that you're not nurturing your creativity, how does this come out? Where do you feel it sort of.

Gary: 7:15

Goes if we're not nurturing our creativity? I agree. I go shopping.

Katie: 7:22

Interesting.

Gary: 7:24

Yeah. Especially you can buy lots of stuff online and you just go for it, don't you? Like you thinking on board, I need to buy something. I need some kind of impulse. But I think what your point is really, though, is that sometimes we separate being creative or being a creator from being an inner art from our inner artist. And I think that they don't have to be separated, but they could be. So some of us might have like an impulse to do something creative, and that's one thing. And we need to get ideas and we need to formulate how we think and everything like that, and then that turns us into some form of art, whatever it might be, and others of us don't need that. But we still have this inner artist that has preferences and all this kind of stuff. And to increase that creativity, we could do something as simple as go to a store where we find ourselves filled with different possibilities and that could open up our eyes. Of course, any kind of. There's. There's a book called the Artist's Way, which has been around for a long time, and it's a great kind of workbook for kind of working with your artists. And one of the things that she talks about in this book is finding an artist's date, making an artist date, where you go to a museum on your own or you go to some kind of inspirational thing, or it could even be a bookshop or places that people might tend to go. Are these, like, not art supplies, but, you know, these kind of party supply things with all kinds of colors and spangles and sparkles, and you're just like, whoa. You know, I am getting kind of, you know, this feeling that I might have only had when I was a child or whatever. Yeah.

Katie: 9:05

Yes. I thought we probably would touch on the artist way. Talking about releasing it in the artist, I thought this comes up, and I think we spoke about it when we met last time.

Gary: 9:13

All right, maybe. Yeah.

Katie: 9:14

Yeah. And I definitely used the morning pages, writing those three pages every morning when I was working on my book, and it really helped me. But I didn't do the inner artist date. I don't know. I didn't have any ideas. But I think both of them are very interesting. And I actually bought her another book of hers recently on writing, specifically for writing, which I think is interesting.

Gary: 9:37

The morning pages are fantastic. If you start to work through, it's this free writing, basically, for the people who don't know, you get up in the morning and you write without thinking. Three pages long, hands straight out, and then you don't look back at them. Right. You're just letting your stuff out, and that's fantastic because it just gets away, all the stuff, you know?

Katie: 10:00

Yes. And, I don't know. A lot of things happen when you do that. First of all, you get clearer in your thoughts and your ideas. Then it also unblocks. It helped me not have writers blocked, because then when I was writing, you've sort of relaxed that, and you learn to not be judgmental about the writing that you're doing. And so because you're just writing anything and you're not judging yourself. That really helps. Okay, I want to go back to that initial question I had earlier. So when people ask you, how can I find my voice? What do you recommend them to be more in tune with their inner artist?

Gary: 10:34

All of the things that have to do with artistry, I think, come from a desire to do something. So for you, it might be like, let's say, writing that book for someone else, it might be making their garden, whatever it is. And so when you have a kind of a vision for anything like that, then you inevitably need the materials and supplies to make that become something. And I think that the best thing is to actually find something that you want to do. And it's through making whatever it might be, either a book or a garden or whatever, that you then start to see more of what you want to make. So I actually believe that it's in the doing that the thing is revealed. There are obviously some basic tools, like your journaling, which is the artist. The pages is a way of journaling or meditating or things like that, that kind of help us settle in to find out what we want. But for those of us who have meditated, and I've meditated a lot, and I never, very rarely, anyway, get this voice that says, you should do this, right? It just doesn't come, you know, you meditate and it's like, no voice. And I'm like, oh, can't you just answer, please? I'm praying for this answer. And the answer is in the doing often, I think so. I think it's do something, whatever it might be, if you have an inspiration that you want to. One of my uncles, he used to do these, like, pencil shavings and turn them into art. And then through the process of building that up, I could see he just became more expressive. And it was nice that, and it gave him something to do that he could talk about. That then was an outlet for his artistic expression. So I think it's the doing of something, and then you find materials and you find the learnings that are necessary. The whole yogic philosophy is based on that. There's this idea in yoga that most of our learning, before I get to the yoga thing, most of our learning is additive in the west. So two plus two is four, four plus two is six. Then we have the multiplication tables. Division goes on to calculus, all this kind of stuff. In the yogic tradition or in these ancient philosophies, they start with the end. They say, you're it. You are the divine center of everything. And then the questions begin, I'm it, but I don't feel like I'm it. How do I feel that? What do I need to do? How do I get there? And I think that, let's say these physicists, like Richard Feynman or these people who have these, like, visions for creating or Einstein, right. They start with a vision or a big question. And that question then drives the learning. And I think it's the same with the artistry. Right. So if you start to have questions, how does this work? And you start to find out, you pull in the information and the techniques that you need to get there.

Katie: 13:44

That's what I think all starts with the doing. And we were just talking about COVID and be proactive.

Gary: 13:50

Oh, right, yeah.

Katie: 13:51

Taking action, doing it, and as you do it. What is your definition of art? And being autistic, because the way you're defining it now, pulling information to or not information, but pulling in things and doing things to create something, I think is not what people think of if they think of creativity or art. Do you see a difference between creativity and art?

Gary: 14:14

Yeah, it was funny. I was having a conversation with another artist, a very successful one, on the way here on the phone, and what she was saying to me was, you know, there's a big difference between this kind of, like, creative stuff, right, and art. And I was saying, yeah, I totally agree with you. And the point that she was making was that there is a space for play, right, for just like, getting out a canvas and throwing paint on it, being spontaneous and all that kind of stuff. And then there is something that comes from a deeper level of connection and thinking and awareness. It doesn't have to be more sophisticated, but it usually involves some kind of, let's say, skill or commitment. And that's when we step into, let's say, something that we could label as art, even though the other stuff might be creative. A kid splashing paint might be creative, might be art. But then if an adult is just splashing paint, at what point does it become art? We see some art, that they work with it so much that it becomes something different. Maybe that's because of the thought that's behind it and stuff like that. So I do think there's a deeper. It comes from a deeper place if it's art in that way and yet not right, and yet it is only because you work so deeply and think so much that then that spontaneity when it comes out. I think Picasso said, you have to spend a lifetime learning how to paint like a child again or something like that. Right. This idea that you work so much with all this stuff that then can finally, you can just draw a bull with your light or whatever, right? No. So that's like. That definitely is a difference. I wouldn't call everything that everybody makes art. Yeah.

Katie: 16:12

I'm wondering if it's also linked to our perspective and judging and labeling, whereas creativity is just doing something, feeling this connection, feeling this flow and then art. I also feel that it needs to be a bit recognized by others. Like, if you just do this one thing and you sort of think it's fun, but no one sees it, I think this is what Mihaly Ji Seng Mihaly, you know, who wrote flow, he also wrote a book called creativity. And I think this is sort of what he's saying, that there are certain norms around art, and therefore we can't just call anything we do art. Yeah, but I think that begs the question of, do you help people then to unlock their inner artist or their inner creator? Because that's not the same.

Gary: 16:56

Interesting. I think the deepest level of who we are, the person that is thinking and is seeing the world at a deep level, is the inner artist. I think the inner creator is a playful part of that. And I do believe that if we're really going to develop on this inner journey that we're undertaking, than it is to find this artist, because it demands a commitment and a thought and a depth that only come through. I don't know. You don't want to say hard work because it's not necessarily hard, but through real commitment to do something that is more important for yourself. So I believe that it's actually inner artists, but with lots of creative tools, because we don't want to get make the technique get in the way. And then let's say for some people, let's say we are having a workshop with someone and we decide, oh, we're going to do intuitive painting. Now, none of that is meant to be good, right? It's not meant to be art that you hang on the wall or sell or people could if they wanted to, but that's not the point. The point is to start to get the momentum going and to some people, that might speak to them and then they work on becoming a painter. For other people, it might be the colors that come out and then they start being interested in how do I work with colors in fashion or something. Right? So I think the tools are creative, but the inner artist is what we're aiming for. Awakening or working with. It's a deeper, truer, authentic self. Yeah.

Katie: 18:42

And what are some of the sabotages and obstacles that people have to getting in tune with the inner artist?

Gary: 18:50

Time, this idea of time and pressure to do stuff. Right. Of course. Societal pressures that we believe are important for us that may or may not be, not knowing what's important to you, not having your own internal values clear and what really is the key things for you. And then there's maybe a host of other family and stuff like that that could get in the way or become an obstacle for a person to dive into the stuff. But then I think if we don't dive into it, then we're kind of missing who we are in a way.

Katie: 19:41

You said earlier that there was a link between meditation, so spiritual journey, let's say, and your artistic journey. I'd love to hear a bit more about that because I've also found that they're interconnected and they're one and the same somehow, that our creative energy is sort of the same as our spiritual energy. But I find it hard to formulate, and I'd love to hear how you see them intertwined.

Gary: 20:08

So for a long time, I felt like I had to separate, compartmentalize my stuff. So I put my spirituality here, I put my art creation here, I did my kind of work over here, had my friends over here, different groups of things. And as time's gone by and I start to go deeper into my understanding of who I am, I realized that that was just for some reason, like a fair based way of compartmentalizing or keeping everything separate, because I didn't know, I didn't think it was going to interact because someone said, oh, to be successful, you have to be driven, or whatever it might be. When I was a kid, this kind of stuff. And so, or you're a sport person, whatever. And then I think that they have to be actually intertwined. And it's only when I started to dare to say that I am working with spiritual stuff that other things, like this podcast and other kinds of opportunities and things have opened up. So it's when I intertwine things that actually, things start to blossom, right? And it's a strange thing that because you think that you got to keep everything separate if it's going to work. And even my kids who are, you know, now they're late, teenagers, they're like, you're going to go meditate. I'm like, yeah. And they're like, good, I'm going to meditate, too. And I'm like, oh, nice, that's good, but not with you. They're going to do their own thing, but they start to see that there's a way to connect and you can use that. People accept you when you stand for who you are. And if you don't allow yourself to intertwine those important things in your life, whatever they might be, then I don't know if you're living fully. I think you're missing something. So I would say don't be afraid of letting them. In fact, they have to be intertwined. We can't keep everything separate. That's where transparency and openness and honesty come in. It's not easy sometimes. We don't want people to see that we're vulnerable, to see that we're unsure. But it's when we work with that stuff that actually people appreciate us and like us more and care about us and all that stuff and love us.

Katie: 22:33

You mentioned vulnerability right now and you didn't mention it in one of the obstacles. But I wonder, do you see this as a pattern that people are afraid of being vulnerable and opening up because being autistic or creative, I know I've had that a lot with my writing. When I published my book, felt this huge fear more when it came out than while I was writing it. And I think there's a huge element of vulnerability around art and being creative.

Gary: 22:59

Yeah, definitely. Especially this idea. Like there's a couple of things that come up. One is that people think you're wasting your time or why are you doing that? No one's going to read your book. No one's going to look at your painting. Who cares? You should be making money. You should go out with, did it make you any money? Do you sell that? And you do some nice painting. What'd you sell it for? And you're like, oh my God, these people are attacking you. So you got that side. That is terrible. And they go right to that. They go right for it. If you say, oh, yeah, I just published, but I have several books published too. And someone that wants, it's a pseudo friend might say, oh yeah, how does it work financially? Like that? How many do you sell? Oh yeah, it's like 2000 books. Yeah, that's $2 each. Okay. That's like for, yeah, you didn't make much money on that, did you? Things like that, right. You hear that stuff and you're like, oh, vulnerable. So you have to learn to ignore that stuff. Right? Because this is, you know, and at the same time when you are vulnerable, then you find the people who really care about you are supportive and they open doors for you. They look after you. They make sure things have happened, you know, happen and unfold and all that kind of stuff. So I think vulnerability is essential to actually navigating the world, really, in a positive way. And to let ourselves be vulnerable and be seen for who we are, really. And to admit when we feel down or when we need help without being needy, obviously. And then to open ourselves up when we show what we're creating, too. Because that's part of who we are. And it's actually in the vulnerability that we. That we. That's the art that we like the most. This is a strange thing. It's in the. It's when things aren't perfect that we like the thing, you know, it's the raspy voice or whatever. It's the strange, big, you know, fat opera singer that you don't even think. Could barely take any presence on stage that, like, makes your eyes water or whatever. You know, like Pavarotti singing or something. It's like this kind of like. It's the. If you look at David Bowie, it's the things that don't work, that work. All these things. That's what makes it work. That's what makes it. Otherwise it would be music 451 or whatever. It'd be this straightforward things all the time. But it's actually the quirks that make it interesting. That's what makes us love stuff. When you look at someone's face, it's not perfect symmetry, but it's things that are unique to them. That's what we really, really like and appreciate in other people and in ourselves, too. But we forget that sometimes when we're making comparisons or being judgmental and all that kind of stuff.

Katie: 25:57

So it's vulnerability and the imperfection that makes it beautiful.

Gary: 26:01

Yeah. Right. Yeah, yeah. If everything's absolutely perfect, whatever that means, then we kind of just pass it by.

Katie: 26:11

Sterile.

Gary: 26:11

Yeah, sterile. You know, boring. Yeah, boring. You know, it's these quirky old buildings that everyone really likes. You know, we don't want this kind of, like, sterile corridor. And that's why we don't want, like, a. Everyone doesn't want the same car, even, you know, same clothing. We want the interesting thing that's different, you know?

Katie: 26:31

Yes.

Gary: 26:31

Yeah.

Katie: 26:32

Yes. And I also think what you were saying right now with the people who asked, for example, financially, how the book went, obviously they're just repeating the pattern that they've heard and seen around them until you're in touch with your own artist and your own process. Then you start to ask more, what's the book about?

Gary: 26:50

Yeah, the really important stuff, right? Yeah. What is your premise? What do you think about? You know? Cause it's what you think that's important. And you're trying to express yourself through words, in this case. Or if you're making a visual art through your visual art or, you know, through cooking, you know. That's why I don't like. So I love to cook. Right. So I don't want people to cook for me who don't like to cook. They'd be like, oh, I'll cook for you, but I really don't like. I'm like, do not cook for you, ever. Cause I would just be like, so I would just. I'll come over to your place. I'll cook. Just let me go, you know? Cause you want people to do things they love, right? And you want them to do the things that they love for you. Maybe they make the whole place really nice or whatever, you know? And you're like, oh, this is so beautiful. I love to come in and see how the flowers are and everything, you know, so we can compliment each other. We don't have to, you know. Yeah, exactly. Find a. Follow our bliss or whatever.

Katie: 27:47

Yes. And encourage people to do the same.

Gary: 27:49

Yeah. Follow your bliss. Do things that you love and try to make. Share that. And that's what's important. That's what we should ask for other people. So it's not like, yeah, like, how much do those flowers cost? I mean, it's ridiculous, right? You walk in like, oh, flowers cost. It's like, wow, those are beautiful. How you put them together and created this, you know, centerpiece, whatever. I'm like, I would never be able to do that. No interest. I'd be like, except for appreciation. Right? Yeah, it's interesting. Yeah. So it's, what do we think and care about? And how can we tune into someone else and ask what they think and care about?

Katie: 28:25

Yeah. And I think from what you were saying, there's sort of two elements. There's really the creator and then also artist, which is deeper. And then there's the sort of observer and appreciation, like the flower example or even when we said the shopping at the beginning, where it's more passive in the sense that we're not actually doing something, but it's also cultivating this observation, awareness, appreciation, gratitude for what is around us. And that's where meditation can help a lot, because we become more aware of our surroundings, and we pause a little more to see where we are. And how things are going, what things look like. And this helps us to appreciate it. So I feel there's those two elements, sort of the being and the doing. Again, the yin and the yang, the appreciation and the action, definitely.

Gary: 29:12

When it comes to appreciation, when you noticed that just now, it wasn't something I had thought through. And when you reflect that back to me, I'm like, it's so important that it's like just appreciating something that someone is offering to you is so big a part of the process, you know? Absolutely. And it's what makes us feel that we're willing to share our vulnerabilities and our uniqueness. And at the same time, it's a window into our own. When we appreciate something else and appreciate what someone else has done, then you're like, oh, this is sick. It's opening a whole new landscape to me, you know? Yeah.

Katie: 29:56

Interesting. It's interesting because I always love complimenting people. So if I see that they've done something really like, or I complimented your meditation class after. At the end, as soon as I participate in something I like, or I really like someone's clothes or hair, I stop women in the street to tell them how to be full their hairs. And I think it is, now that we've had this conversation, I think it's my inner artist is touched and I feel that I want to express it and have that brief connection or longer if you know the person, but if it's someone you don't know, just to share that sort of depth. And it's a bit like you said, you sort of showing the appreciation and then they also have a moment to maybe think about it and it's sort of a communication somehow. Deeper connection.

Gary: 30:42

Yeah, definitely. And there, I mean, there's an art and appreciation. I mean, you master that, right? So that's part of the thing for other people when they feel seen, it makes. Makes you feel wonderful when someone else sees you. And that's just, you know, so true. And if you can think, if you look at something, you can appreciate that and then express that and share that and have the courage to do that. That's. Yeah, it's fantastic.

Katie: 31:08

Yeah. I work on the courage piece. It's one of my core values. But I also think it's sometimes easier as a woman. Like, if I speak to other women or men, they take a more easily. But I remember this one woman in the metro, and Londa, I think, and she had these amazing bright blue eyes and she looked so sad. And she was young but she just looked sad, and her eyes were so blue. And then I told her in a very, like, trying not to be awkward way, you know, you have beautiful blue eyes. That's all I wanted to say. And her whole face lit up, and she had tears in her eyes. And I was like, that's it. And then I just went away to show I wasn't weird.

Gary: 31:44

She's even more weird.

Katie: 31:48

But then she was so happy. And the interesting thing with compliments is that when they come to me, I generally just want to share with them, but afterwards, I have this whole inner glow myself.

Gary: 32:00

Yeah, it's like giving a gift, right? Yeah. And you're like, I feel so good. Yeah. In fact, when they do these studies, I can't remember exactly the study, the psychological study, but it's in the giving that we feel and remember the positive things that we've done that make a huge impact later on and that we really care about. And so that makes total sense. Right. And if you can, if you think and allow yourself intuitively to then offer, that is just. Yeah, it's wonderful. That's an exact expression of being in touch with your inner artist.

Katie: 32:32

So what would you say? Just to sort of wrap up? I think we covered a lot, and we went quite in depth, and I loved our topic around creativity versus art. And then the inner artist, the inner creator. And now there's these two aspects, both the action and the appreciation. What would you say to someone listening who really wants to get a bit more in touch with the inner artist? What could be just a couple of things they could start to play with to experiment, to help them to go a bit deeper on this journey.

Gary: 33:01

I'd say, find something to do that you like and then do it. That's one thing, right? So be proactive. Find something. And I actually think that when you say this appreciation thing, I say, and that's part of this being on an artist's visit, when you go to a place and have an artist date. And that is also to appreciate both in other people, but also the world around you, the art that you see, the things that you see, whether it's a flower that's growing in nature, or whether it's the kind of thing that someone's created to be appreciative of the things around you, that touches into gratitude, which we know that gratitude and appreciation are some of the fundamental cornerstones to well being. It's those things, plus taking action, finding inertia in the things that you do and finding that you can actually agency, knowing that you have a power within you to make something happen. And so by taking action and by appreciating the world around you, I think that's a beautiful starting point. And then when we meditate, if you were interested in meditating, I think it's a wonderful way to center ground to give your body. Because when we meditate, the most simple form, we're allowing the body to move from the fight or flight mechanisms that we have almost all the time when we're running around to come into the parasympathetic nervous system, to allow ourselves to then relax the nervous system, the brain starts to function at a higher level, and then we actually see the world in a different way just simply through the calmness of meditation. Then there's all kinds of different types of levels and styles of meditation that can help. But definitely some form of quietness during the day is great for you or for us.

Katie: 35:03

Definitely. Definitely. I think meditation really helps us to shift our perspective. And it's easier then to be grateful and to have that appreciation because you're in a calmer space. And it also, I think, helps you to build inner resilience. Because I've been preparing a keynote around resilience, and as I was doing this, I was thinking, well, meditation really helps because you detach a bit more from circumstances and you pause a bit and you sort of rebound more easily. And because you're not as reactive or to the external circumstance, you have that that gap is a bit longer right before you answer back to the circumstance. So with that pause, you can choose your response right. It comes back to the be proactive and the Viktor Frankl. And then we're on to another two hour podcast.

Gary: 35:50

We should do one on resilience. I'm curious to ask you about your resilience keynote and all the things you got going on there, too.

Katie: 35:57

Yeah, well, I'll probably do another solo show on resilience or also interview maybe one or two other people that are specialized in resilience. I look forward to seeing that cliffhanger for the next episode. Amazing. Well, thank you so much, Gary, for being on the show today. I think we covered a lot. I think it's such an amazing topic. I think it's really fascinating. So thank you so much for being here today.

Gary: 36:19

Yeah, thank you. I really appreciate it.

Katie: 36:21

Thank you. Thank you so much for tuning in today to the focusbee show. I would absolutely love to hear your feedback. So let me know in an Apple review or YouTube comment what was most valuable for you, and feel free to share this episode with a friend or a family member wishing you a wonderful, magical, and focused day ahead.