The Athena Wellness Podcast
Episode 174 - How to Invite Creativity Into Your Life with Haden Starbuck
January 11, 2023

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[00:00:05] Kathy Robinson: Welcome to The Athena Wellness Podcast, the show that invites you to take a seat around the community fire and listen to stories that inspire. I'm your host, Kathy Robinson, author, coach and founder of Athena Wellness, a company that's dedicated to supporting you on your journey to live more wholeheartedly. 

[00:00:30] Kathy:  Today's episode is brought to you by The Athena Wellness Academy, your resource for wholehearted living. 

The Academy's featured offering is an online course called, From 'Type A' to 'Type Be,' How to Mindfully Descend the Corporate Ladder and Invite What's Next. This course is perfect for you if you're contemplating or navigating a professional transition, and it's available as a self study or with a small cohort of students facilitated by me, Kathy Robinson. 

To learn more, I invite you to go to AthenaWellnessAcademy.teachable.com or click on the link in the show notes.

[00:01:21] Kathy: Hello and welcome. Thanks so much for joining me for this shortened Wellness Wednesday episode, a little midweek boost to help keep your Warrior Vibe high. 

Today I'm joined, once again, by Creatrix Haden Starbuck. During this discussion, Haden shares some advice for those who don't feel artistic but long to get in touch with their creative selves.

And now onto the show. I hope you enjoy this conversation.

[00:01:52] Kathy: Once again, I'm joined by artist and podcaster Haden Starbuck. Welcome back, Haden.

[00:01:58] Haden Starbuck: Thank you. Good to be here.

[00:02:00] Kathy: I'd love to address the listener who feels like there are some artistic stirrings as they're listening to your podcast or as they're going about their life, but they don't really consider themselves artistic, but yet there's that curiosity. What would you offer them and how might they be able to get in touch with either living more creatively or getting in touch with their creative side?

[00:02:27] Haden: So, I just want to start by saying, "Everybody's creative." I mean, think of yourself as a little kid. You turn on music and little kids move. You hand a kid a crayon - they don't even need paper, they're going to do it on the wall. Kids are creative, they just are. 

So the first thing I would suggest is just go back to what lit you up as a kid, you know? Turn on that music and turn off the lights, if that's what you need. Get rid of mirrors, if that's what-- whatever it is you need to just tap into who you were or what you did as a kid. The things I loved as a kid to do creatively, I still love, they still light me up. I have a different relationship, I’m an adult. 

Doodling, I think, is probably a really excellent thing because if you're stuck in a meeting or, as most of us are these days, Zoom calls where nobody can see your hands, put the pen on paper, see what happens. You don't have to think about it. You don't have to have a goal. Just let it wander. 

Creativity, it's more of an opening as opposed to a doing sometimes. Obviously, if you want to create a specific thing, then, yes, you're doing. But a lot of times, it's just showing up and playing. And it's also a muscle. So once you start getting that muscle going, the more you work it, the more active it is and the next thing you know, it takes over your life. And you, too, are an artist. Welcome. [laughter] Join us. We're having fun!

[00:03:57] Kathy: There you go. It’s that simple.

[00:04:00] Haden: It's that simple.

[00:04:01] Kathy: It's funny, I had, when I was at my busiest in corporate, the word play.  When someone would say, “Just play.” I can't tell you what that would do to me. [laughter]

[00:04:15] Haden: Was it a trigger?

[00:04:16] Kathy: It had the opposite effect of what people intended. It was aggravating. “I don't have time to play,” was the feeling. 

So can you talk a little bit about play? I love this idea of opening versus doing. I think it might have been more helpful if somebody came to me and said, “How might you be more receptive?” 

Because play really means not having an end result in mind, right? Again, if it was defined that way, I think I could have accepted that a little bit easier. If we can just be doing an activity without an end result in mind, how might we be able to invite that opening?

[00:04:59] Haden: Hmm. Well, if you have family, I would say just have– because I remember in my childhood, we always had game nights. And it was like just hanging out together and seeing what happened. Again, turn on the music. 

Actually, one thing I had this one group do… we would do art blindfolded. I think if we create the way we live, you've already got all of your blocks in place. So maybe remove one of those. Remove sight or taste or get out of your rut. So hang upside down off of monkey bars and look at the clouds or it's just kind of getting out of your own way. When was the last time you stared at the clouds and saw the animals in them? 

I think it's really about spaciousness. So if you can, that bush that you pass every day on your walk to work, just stop and stare at it, actually see it. I think it's really about being present because remember when you were playing and you were the princess and your best friend was the doctor, or whatever, you were the princess.

[00:06:24] Kathy: I was never the princess. Just to be-- [laughs]

[00:06:28] Haden: I don't know why I said princess. You were the butterfly. Be the butterfly. If you're standing there, you've passed the same bush every day on the way to work and you're just standing there staring at it. One, notice how it changes in the seasons. Holy cow, the changes are amazing. Is there a caterpillar there? 

It's just a different part of your brain, right? The part where you go to work and you're a good girl and you do what you're supposed to do. That's one part of your brain. It's been well-trained by society. Thank you society and thank you educational system. Find that other part of your brain. And I think that's where meditation is so good because it does for a lot of people that aren't creatives. I think it's a nice gateway drug because you are--

[00:07:13] Kathy: [laughs] I love that. I have never heard of meditation described that way. And I am going to use that again. That's amazing.

[00:07:23] Haden: Oh, thank you for, what is it, growing up in the 80s and all the gateway drugs.

[00:07:28] Kathy: I love it. This is your brain on meditation.

[00:07:31] Haden: This is your brain on meditation. 

It just shows you that there's so much we don't access about our consciousness and about ourselves. What did they say? Creativity open, it's more of your brain is on fire and working. So, how to tap into that? Let go off the stuff of the world, even if it's just five minutes a day. 

You're doing dishes, look at the bubbles. I can tell you. I sound like I just spent my life stoned. Remember how magical bubbles were when you were a kid, the colors and whatever? So get some extra bubbles going in your dishes. There's little simple things. Even sometimes when I'm making, if I'm putting milk in tea or something, just the way the milk disperses on top of the tea is interesting.

[00:08:23] Kathy: Well, I love that idea. Really what you're talking about, as you said, is presence. And the fact that you can do that in these micro-actions. It doesn't have to be, "Oh, I need an hour to sit down and do X." It's, "What can I notice?" during the course of my day that’s either interesting or beautiful to me, whatever that might be. 

And I would add to that to give yourself credit. When you were talking about that, I was remembering when I worked on Wall Street, every morning I'd go over the George Washington Bridge, go down the Westside Highway. That's how I saw the seasons change. When the boats were put out in the boat basin, I knew spring was arriving. You'd see the leaves falling and so on. You'd see the buds. I wasn't giving myself credit for that was my-- I used to look forward to that part of the drive because it was so scenic. I should have given myself the credit of, “You are noticing these things, you are present.” And all the traffic would go away. I'd have plenty of time [laughs] to be present. There's less reactivity because you're involved in your surroundings. 

So the few things that I think are wonderful takeaways are: What are ways to deepen your presence? What are ways that you can do that in small periods of time throughout the day? And for the things that you're already doing, how might you be able to be aware that you actually are doing these things and then maybe try to broaden from there.

[00:09:50] Haden: You recognize that you're enjoying them. Once you realize you enjoy something, you're going to want more of it. And if you can take your day and string together all these little pearls of enjoyment, you have a necklace.

Because I think a lot of it, for me, is triggers and stress and all that. So if I'm in a situation where I'm really stressed out and I'm listening to somebody, maybe just look at their hair. How did they do their hair today? Focus on something else. Because a lot of times, people just need to vent. You don't need to receive it. You don't need to take it into yourself. How did they tuck in their shirt? What's the pattern on the fabric? Feel free to get distracted by other way more important things.

[00:10:36] Kathy: There you go. Wonderful. And you had mentioned the last time we chatted that you have this program of a prompt a day and I think that might be very helpful for folks who are trying to get into it. Can you say a little bit more about that and where they can find it?

[00:10:50] Haden: Yes. It's on my website creatrixcompass.com. It's called Awaken the Artist Within. In all these miscellaneous prompts, I try to get physical and drawing and writing. I tried to get as many mediums as I could in there. I'm not a musician, but I did try on the music part. 

But the one that stands out to me that I love is, just in a few minutes, while you're eating breakfast or whatever, you're moving to Mars - create a world. Obviously, you could go really deep. You could create a whole career based on creating a world on Mars. But what are you eating? What are you drinking? What does the building look like? Your imagination is so fast that you're probably already thinking what that looks like.

[00:11:32] Kathy: Absolutely. I was actually thinking-- You said, "Create a whole world on Mars," I'm like, "Elon Musk is kind of doing that." [laughter] Maybe this is how he eats his breakfast. Who knows?

[00:11:41] Haden: Exactly. It's just letting your imagination fly. Daydream.

[00:11:47] Kathy: Love it. Just let it rip.

[00:11:49] Haden: Let it rip.

[00:11:50] Kathy: Wonderful. I will link up everything in the show notes. Haden, thank you so much again for being with us, really appreciate your time today.

[00:11:57] Haden: My pleasure, it’s been fun.

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[00:12:01] Kathy: Thank you so much for joining me today. I know there are many ways you can spend your time. Thank you for choosing to spend it with me. Until our paths cross again, be kind to yourself and show your Warrior Spirit some love.

If you know anyone who could benefit from today's episode, please pass it on. And many thanks for supporting the show by subscribing and leaving a review. It means a lot and it helps others find their way to our circle.

If you'd like to access the show notes, have a question you'd like addressed on a future episode, or would like a transcript of this episode, visit www.AthenaWellness.com/podcast. 

Until next time, be well!

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