Overcomers Approach
“The Overcomers Approach” podcast showcases stories of resilience, where individuals transcend challenges to achieve personal and professional success. With a focus on spiritual, mental, emotional, physical, and financial growth, the podcast inspires listeners to embrace their potential and thrive in all areas of life. Join us to learn how overcoming adversity can lead to evolution, healing, and lasting success.
Overcomers Approach
From Stress To Resilience Through Creative Mindfulness
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What if calm could be something you can see on paper? I sit down with mindful art educator and creator Cynthia Hawk to explore how drawing, doodling, and watercolor, paired with simple breathwork, become practical tools for stress relief, better sleep, and emotional regulation you can feel within minutes. No perfect sketchbooks, no pressure, just process over product and a kinder way to meet your day.
Cynthia breaks down mindful art as short, accessible practices that make meditation visible. From “drawing the breath” to her aquadoodles approach, she shows how externalizing your focus steadies attention and expands your window of tolerance. We talk about chronic pain, parenting, teaching, and entrepreneurship, and why these practices fit across ages and settings—from preschool classrooms to retirement communities. You’ll hear how small creative rituals build resilience, helping you return to baseline when life spikes your stress.
Crucially, everyone is creative. Creativity can look like doodles, cooking, gardening, lesson design, or a spreadsheet that finally works. Many of us absorbed myths that art must impress or be graded. Mindful art dissolves that pressure. Try aquadoodles: lay down watercolor washes, let blooms spread, then trace the edges you see. It’s a reverse coloring book that welcomes imperfection. Or set a two-minute timer and draw your breath. These humble acts build presence and self-trust. Over weeks, you may notice sleep smoothing out, the phone feeling less magnetic, and your baseline calm rising. That’s the point: a practice of kindness you can hold in your hands.
We also dig into the inner critic and imposter syndrome. Cynthia shares how creativity naturally triggers protective voices and why compassionate, non-judgmental practice is the antidote. Learn a simple inner critic vs. inner muse exercise, plus the often-missing piece of growth: support. Whether you’re launching a project, rebranding a business, or trying to sleep through the night, mindful art invites you to ask for help, take one breath, make one mark, and keep going.
More on Cynthia at the following links.
Free Workbook (Mindful Art for Self-Care):
https://learn.mindfulcreativemuse.com/mindful-art-workbook-for-self-care
Free Online Workshop (Art as Meditation):
https://learn.mindfulcreativemuse.com/art-as-meditation-workshop
YouTube Channel (for Mindful Creative Muse):
http://youtube.com/mindfulcreativemuse?sub_confirmation=1
Website - Mindful Creative Muse:
https://mindfulcreativemuse.com
Thank you for listening!
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Thank you for listening!
Hello, everyone. This is Nicole Ellis McGregor, the founders of the Overcomer's Approach Podcast. This is a podcast where I meet with different people from different walks of life, different experiences, and different journeys. But the overarching theme is that we have the ability to overcome almost anything that is set before us. We just need the tools a lot of the times. We need the story. We need the experience. We might need a coach, someone with more expertise to get us moving into our fullest potential. I'm so happy that I have Cynthia Hawk here, MFA, founder of Mindful Creative Muse, is passionate about sharing simple mindfulness and art activities to help busy people de-stress and express themselves creatively. She also trains artists, art therapists, art teachers, K through 12 teachers, yoga teachers, meditation practitioners, creative entrepreneurs, expressive art educators, and course creators how to facilitate, plan, and mindfully market their offerings for greater impact and income through four intentionally accredited mindful art and meditation teacher training certification programs online. Cynthia Hawk is the founder of the Mindful Creative News, an online school that offers mindful art workshops, retreats, and teacher training. Since 2007, she's facilitated at an in-person and online courses, retreats, festivals, group coaching programs, teacher trainings, and telesummits globally reaching students in more than 50 countries. That is so impressive, Cynthia. Thank you for being here with me today and my listeners on the Overcomers Approach podcast. Welcome.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, thank you so much for having me. And I just want to say also, I know that's a lot of words, and I think it really speaks to how much calming, simple, creative practices with mindfulness can support our well-being. So I'm so excited to chat more with you today.
SPEAKER_00:Me as well. Thank you very much. Thank you. And I love the fact that you said simple practical tools can take us far. And I'm interested in knowing more. My first question is what is mindful art?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's a good question. So mindful art, also sometimes referred to as art meditation, is essentially combining really simple art practices, oftentimes doodling, drawing, painting. It could be a variety of practices, but those are the ones I teach. It's having simple art practices that you can do in five minutes, 15 minutes, combined with mindfulness and/or meditation. And those words sometimes can be thrown around. So I just kind of want to clarify what I mean by that. So mindfulness really is just coming back to the present moment, but without judgment as best as possible, and really with kindness. I often say it's like creating art as a form of meditation. So we can just be kinder to ourselves. And what I've noticed for myself and for a lot of students I've worked with is it can help to take the edge off of stress. It can help us to manage stress better. It helps to sleep. I've noticed for me, it helps me to sleep better. It's a way that we can nurture our own self-care so then we can show up in the world more resourced, essentially.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. I love that. Thank you for that explanation. And that brings more insight. Just you talking about it, I felt myself calming down even more because it was like stepping into the unknown. But you know, like you said, wellness and self-care, being kind to ourselves without judgment, and then doing like simple practices. You like it doesn't seem like you know, you don't have to commit a long amount of time. Seems like whatever you can incorporate into your day can be extremely helpful in so many different ways. So thank you. I appreciate that. And I do believe that you know, anything that can help keep us centered and grounded, you know, and and just take a step back, it would be implemented and could really take us far. I know that for sure. And I love the fact that so many different people and so many different ages can do it. I can see this beneficial and across so many generations. I love the fact that it's not really specific to anyone, like almost anyone could do it. You know, entrepreneurs, business owners, retirees, preschoolers, like there's K through 12, you know, teachers. I have some couple of my best friends are educators or teachers, so they're always exploring ways with their curriculum. And, you know, I just love the fact that you offer this opportunity online and in person, and you're able to touch people in different countries. Like that is so, so impressive. What are do you feel like are some of the benefits to those who really tap into this and do this, or what outcomes have you seen?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I love that you just named that too, because I'll say that I've seen three-year-olds do these practices. We have in our teacher training, we train K through 12 teachers that work with preschoolers up through high school. And then I've also taught workshops where we have close to 80-year-olds in the sessions. And I have teacher trainees of mine that are working in retirement homes and with the elderly as well. So it's just such a wide range of who the ages who it can support. Obviously, we would want to make modifications to the different practices and how we're teaching and sharing it. Um, so I love how accessible it is, and I love that you name too that we don't need a lot of time to do these practices. You might decide you want to spend, you know, a half a day or a long time, but we don't need to have a lot of time, which I think with how busy and stressful the world is these days, that makes it really helpful. Um so some of the benefits that I've really noticed for my own practice and then with students I've worked with, I named a few already, um, but reducing stress or managing stress, helping to, I use the word resource or um helping to do self-care practices that can be a resource, or I call it like um supporting our resiliency, the ground underneath us, and can essentially help us navigate our ups and downs in our nervous system. So anybody, if they're familiar with the window of tolerance or if you've heard anything about the nervous system, we can have a range and these practices help us. Our body and brain is always trying to come back to homeostasis to what is our baseline so we can function in the world. And what I notice is it's like filling a bathtub with water. It helps to increase that baseline of our uh tolerance for stress in our lives. Uh, it can help with focus, especially because a lot of the practices that we're doing are having really simple focal points, like the mark we're making on the page, or I integrate a lot of breath work into the art practice. So having that focal point is actually a way we're training our mind to be able to focus back on something. Uh, and in a world where we are very distracted by these fun little devices, having increased focus can be really helpful. We found also with mindfulness and art that it can help with uh social emotional learning, with other abilities of like mood regulation. And there's just so much, I will say for me, also because of my past, it has helped me with chronic pain. So I found this work through cancer treatment, through having dealing with chronic pain. And there are a few go-to activities that I've done for years that I also teach that help me to be with the struggles of chronic pain. I know that so many people suffer from that, and there's lots of different ways to have support, but I've it's been one of my go-to's for that.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. I love the fact what I love about this is that you're using your own self as your your own natural resource. And like you said, even talking about your experience with chronic pain, and sometimes that chronic pain, as I live with chronic pain as well, it doesn't really ever go away. You know, the ratings just change. And, you know, trying to come up with more natural ways to manage the pain, it kind of brings a form of self-acceptance, but in that process, learning how to do the you know, regulating your emotions, because the more highly stressed you are, the more pain, the more the pain will come, at least for me. If I'm highly stressed, I have a headache, the headache's getting worse. So I love the fact that you said regulating the nervous system. Um, you know, I work with a lot of people in the community of different ages, and and and a big thing is emotional regulation, where uh they just cannot, they're trying to, they're coming up with other methods that may not be as healthy, and that could be more harmful if you just don't get your nervous system regulated. I like the fact that you said it brings up a sense of resiliency and foundation for a person. Um, and that really resonated with me. I also like the fact that uh entrepreneurs, a lot of the people that I know, they're either, you know, working and doing entrepreneurship on the side or they're solely doing entrepreneurship. And if they're managing both, you know, come staying emotionally regulated and mindful of you know what you're doing, and then also if you're managing like another job with doing that, that can be stressful if you don't manage your time well. And I think being centered and grounded is critical. A lot of people are raising kids, and like you said, the phones are just it's it's they're they're a blessing and a curse at the same time because they can be big distractions and can get your you know mind just totally off kilter, and then you're you can be emotionally dysregulated quickly. So I love the fact that you have methods. I think this is like extremely awesome. I think this should be in every school curriculum, actually. I think it would be so helpful. Um, and so that brings great insight in terms of what is imposter syndrome or the inner critic, and how could this help with imposter syndrome? I have a general idea what that is, but how could you how could this help someone who who feels like they either don't belong or they don't believe they don't should be there or they someone's gonna find out that they're fraud, but they're really not. It's just all it's what's kind of going on in your in your head. How could this help someone who's struggling with that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I love this question. It comes up so much with this work, especially because I notice, um, so I'll kind of define it and then talk about how these practices can help with it. So, one, the inner critic or having that imposter syndrome voice is very much, I believe, part of our human experience. We all at some point have experienced it or will experience it. So I always like to just kind of name that and say, if you're listening and you have that going on, you're totally not alone. We've been there, we've all been there. So the inner critic is, I define it as that internal voice that says harsh negative things of judgment to ourselves, like it might be I'm not good enough, I can't make art, I'm not an artist, I can't do that thing, I would try, but I'm gonna fail at it. All of these voices that say, yes, but or yes, that's not for me. You know, I'm not good enough. And the imposter syndrome, I think, is similar. However, with imposter syndrome, that's usually once we've had some level of success. And it's exactly as you said, that part of us that feels like maybe I'm gonna be found out that I'm not actually as good as someone else is thinking I am. And I remember I heard something around like Oprah Winfrey and these really big uh celebrities who have named and said that they still have fear around things, they just continue to move forward anyways. Um and so with the inner critic or imposter syndrome, what I love about these practices is that so anytime we try to do something creative, the definition of creativity for me is innovation. We're doing something outside of our comfort zone. And when we try and do something outside of our comfort zone, that is especially when I notice the inner critic starts to speak up because I'm trying to step out of my um what I'm familiar with. And the inner critic's kind of job, essentially, I feel, is to keep us safe. And so that voice is going to get louder when I try to do something creative or new because it's uncharted territory. I'm I'm not quite sure. And so, what I love about mindful art and meditation practices is that the very foundation of these simple practices is permission and kindness to ourselves and non-judgment. So there is a huge permission of there's not a right or wrong way. You're not making this art for a grade to sell it, to put it on the wall for the end result. We're really doing these practices as a process of noticing how am I feeling as I do it. And it's a way that by having this permission, we can start to notice those inner critical thoughts in the moment while they're happening and be kinder to ourselves. And I say this all the time in my classes that the way that we practice on the page, or you hear that in yoga classes, the way you practice on the mat is then how we also show up out in the world. So the more that we can be kind to ourselves in the moment when we're creating something new and we're catching that thought that says, I'm not good enough, this isn't good enough, the more we can notice that thought and be kind to ourselves and keep moving forward, anyways. I feel like we're we're doing so much more than making doodles on the page or doing art. We're really practicing that muscle of resilience and of kindness to ourselves.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, wow. I love it. I love it. I felt I love the fact that you said, you know, giving ourselves permission, being kind to ourselves with non-judgment, and then also bringing up the fact that even Oprah Winfrey struggles with imposter syndrome. So people who are very successful still have to still walk through it irregardless. And I like the fact that that, so if someone gets caught in that space to know that you're not alone and that other people, very, very, very, very successful people, still deal with this. And that our mind, it's our our mind's job kind of will go there to that the that inner critic. It's just a natural thing that happens. And I love the fact that you said putting it into practice to strengthen that muscle of resilience um through repetition. And and so that is, you know, standard. I think that's something that's truly effective. That's something that I've been hearing a lot of lately, just in terms of like, you know, if you really want to change your habits, it definitely has to be a practice, it has to be a habit, it has to be repetition to strengthen that muscle. And you saying that is just a reminder that that that is that is something that truly works. And I love the fact that you said we're doing it through creativity and art, um, because that's just something that we all can do. And we don't have to compare the art to anything. It's it's beyond doodling, it's it's something that's naturally intrinsically in us to, I believe, create already, you know, um, and it's just giving ourselves permission, just like you said, to do it. Um, that is that is really good. In terms of like self-sabotage, so we have people out there that are trying to step outside the box or they've they had some measure of success, but there's a fear of success for some people, and so there's also a fear of failure, whichever one, or it could be both simultaneously. Um, how do you feel like that could help people as they they not self-sabotage? I've seen this in people, I've seen this in myself. I'm getting better with it in my earlier years. I was big of that. I mean, I have three degrees now, but it took me forever to get the degrees because when I first started when I was young, I failed out the first time, I failed out the second time. I thought it had nothing to do with my intelligence, it was fear. Um, and so um I finally did it, but it took a while. Now it's much better. But I meet other people that I mentor or that I work with, and I other people that I just see so many gifts and talents in, and they'll be like, Yeah, I'm gonna do it. And then and then you talk to them later, and they're like, No, I'm not gonna do it. So, how could this help people? Also, people who are maybe making a career change, or they might need to rebrand their business, and they're they're the familiar feels good. Stepping out is a little scary. So it could be for so many different reasons. How do you think this could help with people who might struggle with that? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think it's a great question. I'll answer both parts of that. Yes. So, what I find with mindful art is that the foundation is that mindfulness piece, but essentially all that's naming is awareness. We're noticing what's happening for us in that exact moment. And so much about self-sabotage, what I've noticed is when I'm self-sabotaging, I'm not quite fully aware I'm doing it. I might be aware, but on like some conscious, subconscious levels, I'm not fully, I'm not really pausing and noticing, hey, I'm I've been procrastinating on that project now for a week because actually I'm afraid of what will happen when I finish that project because of success or failure. And so this practice is really like shining a flashlight back on ourselves, on noticing our thoughts, our emotions, our actions, our habits, and how we're showing up in the world. And so part of it is just building that muscle of awareness so we can even start to notice when we are self-sabotaging. Um kind of the first part. Another part of it is that I actually have a specific practice that is great for self-sabotage, which I refer to as the inner critic and the inner muse. Because there are what I notice for myself is when so when I catch myself self-self-sabotaging, there's also the other layer of what am I telling myself about myself in that moment? And and so I have a practice that where I focus on your inner critical thoughts, the negative thoughts that are likely contributing to your self-sabotage actions or inaction. And then our inner muse, because I feel like we all also have a part of us inside that is our inner champion or inner muse, the part of us that does not self-sabotage, the part of us that has ideas that wants to take creative action, that little impulse that drives us to be creative where we do follow through. So I have a specific exercise that I guide people through as well that can be helpful. And then the other part that I'll say about, because you mentioned kind of what if people are doing some something for their creative work or for their work and kind of stepping into it. I I have a few thoughts around that, but for my people who are in my teacher trainings or my coachings, I say all the time that um we need support of some kind. I think trying to take actions, especially as an entrepreneur or a business owner or somebody stepping into a new thing, if you're doing that all completely by yourself, I feel like you're asking, you're setting yourself up for failure. We need support. And so whether that is through a coach or a group or some sort of training or guidance, something to help support you. So you're not what I often say, like on an island by yourself, which I did for many years. Um and I think as artists and entrepreneurs, it's very easy to be on our own island creating or to try to birth creative projects out in the world. So I think that that is hugely important is having that support. Um, and yeah, so I wanted to mention that as well.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. I love that. I love the fact that you said, and I think a lot of people feel this way, you know, that they're alone, especially if they're first-time entrepreneurs or um they're taking on a business of a family member and they feel like, you know, I could do it, I can do it, I don't need any help. And, you know, we need support. And so just being honest about that and aware of that. I think, like you said, whether that's a coach, whether that's a mentor, whether that's through some program, um, to get the support that they need for guidance. And I Think that would save probably time, money, and it would be good for your overall wellness, you know. From maybe, you know, making, you know, if we can miss some mishaps or, you know, make you know, the road still might be difficult here and there, but why not make it as smooth as we possibly can? So I love the fact that you you you stating like we all need support, now whatever that looks like for that person. But I I I love the fact that that's a good reminder because I hear people have these wonderful ideas, but they kind of want to leap out and just do it versus like getting some consultation, getting some support, meeting with a coach, maybe going over some goals so that there it guides them in the right direction. I truly, truly believe that. What are some simple mindful art activities anyone could do for self-care? It's like a parent, a caregiver, or you know, just somebody who wants to kind of after they get home from work, you got to be compressed sometimes. What are some mindful art tips that you that you can suggest?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I'm happy to share. And I just want to say too, what a relief to know that we don't have to do something by ourselves that we can ask for help and support, whatever that looks like for you. Like when I think about that, I just have like a like I can take a deeper sigh. Yeah, I can feel my entire body release a little bit of tension. So I just wanted to name that.
SPEAKER_00:I agree. I wanted to just touch base on that. I did the same thing, I completely agree with you. And and there were many years that I did feel like I had to do so much by myself through maybe you know, family dynamics, life history. I just felt like I had to survive, like I was in survival mode, and I had to do this, I didn't have much support, and so I just took on the survival uh instinct, and that was burning me up and it was not good for my overall wellness and well-being. And that came out in different ways. You know, it might have came out, you know, with just lack of sleep and patience, being sick a lot. Um, and then once, you know, I tapped into that it was okay to have support, um, and it didn't mean that I was any weaker or any lesser of a person because I needed support. Um, that just brought a new awareness and awakening. And and you you can go so far with support. So I agree with you. I did the same thing. I took a like a deep breath that that it's it's actually okay. Yeah, yes, yeah. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and even essential, I I I found that it's not even an optional thing to have some sort of support in your life that I know there's that cliche of securing your oxygen mask first, but I think issues have a lot of truth to them. And I love to hear how how you just shared that you got support for yourself, especially when noticing like burnout or stress symptoms like that. Yes. Um, so four really simple mindful art and meditation practices that you can try at home. I'll share a couple and then I'll share a couple of resources, free resources that you can find if you want to dive a little bit deeper. Um, so one of my favorite go-tos that I usually do in literally two minutes or five minutes is what's called drawing the breath. And it really is a simple doodle drawing practice that you can do with a sheet of paper, a sticky note, a pen, a pencil. Even if you don't have a pen available, you literally could do it with your finger like on the table or on your pant leg. Yes. But with a pen or a pencil would be more um ideal for you to see the marks.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:But essentially, this practice is syncing up really simple doodling marks with our breath. And the intention behind it is that as you're breathing, as you're inhaling, one there's I've created about 20 different types of drawing the breath practices that I call breath doodles. Um they have different shapes and so you'll feel them differently. But one really simple way of drawing the breath is that as you inhale, you would move your pen or pencil up the page, and as you exhale, you move your pen or pencil down the page, and you would continue maybe for a two minutes, like set a two-minute timer on your phone and continue that. And it sounds really simple, but what it does is a few things is that I notice that when we are making those simple marks outside of ourselves, that we can literally see it and follow our breath. A lot of people, a lot of my students I've heard have said it's much easier to follow your breath when you're seeing that doodle or mark outside of yourself. And it's actually called externalization, where we can see it outside of ourselves that um can help with focus and can help us can help a lot of people to meditate, perhaps that who have tried to meditate and have eyes closed and sit on a cushion and not move, and they're just like screaming on the inside because their knees hurt and they can't focus or whatever. I've been there, I totally get it. Um and so that is a really simple practice. Okay. Uh another practice that I like to teach, which I refer to as aquadoodles, um, because it implies really simple doodling drawing and more of a watercolor painting practice, is having the watercolor painting first on your page, letting it dry. Watercolor is really interesting because it creates a lot of imperfections, which they often call like blooming effects. And once you have the watercolors on the page, you literally can go in and trace the marks that you're seeing on the page. So it's kind of, I see it as like a reverse coloring book page instead of a you're filling in and coloring in the lines, you're putting the color on the page and then you're creating the lines from that. Um, I have on my YouTube channel, which is Mindful Creative Muse, I have a couple of videos that will guide you through those practices exactly as I just shared, as well as body scan drawing meditations and more. I know some people, I'm very visual, so hearing a description, I'm like, well, I kind of get it, but I also kind of don't understand what you're saying. So if you're curious, mindful creative muse at YouTube, you can follow along with some of those videos. It's totally free just for you at your um house for your self-care. And then I also have a workbook that is mindful art for self-care that has about five or six more practices that will guide you through it. Um, and I'm happy to share that if you want to share it in the show notes that people can download and do that practice at home as well.
SPEAKER_00:Awesome, awesome. I'll make sure I put that in the uh narrative in the show notes at the end of the uh podcast. I really appreciate that. Uh, there was a couple of things that really stood out to me um in terms of people um having a difficult time, maybe sitting still doing meditation. And I could just speak to that for myself. I'm a kinesthetic learner and I'm a visual learner myself. So if someone says something to me, it sometimes could go completely over my head. Um, and so I like the fact that it offers that opportunity for people that that might need that. Also, um, people that like movement with their bodies, it just like I rock sometimes. Uh sometimes just movement alone is very healing. Um, and I I like the fact that we're able to, as we're doing meditation with the art, is actually doing the deep breathing while you're doing the movements. Like I was like, like I was actually just kind of doing it in my mind already. But I like the fact that you give people an option to move and visually see what they're doing. That's a that's a good, that's a go thing. Yes, I love it. Yes, yes, that is good. How can people, because I hear so much from other people, they might say, I'm not creative at all, because I think some people miss the mark with creativity, like they think they have to be like an artist or uh a musician or like something that definitely says they're an artist. But I think I mentioned earlier, I believe that people have naturally create creative points to who they are. It's just in, I believe it's in everybody. How it shows up, it might show up just differently. Um, but how can people tap into their creativity? Especially if they feel like they're not creative. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I love this question because it's an edge and something that I've grappled with and something I hear from most of the students that I work with. I think that there has been, I think there's myths about meditation. There's also myths about art or ideas about art that we have around being an artist that it needs to look a particular way, or that we're not creative or an artist if we're not selling our work for, you know, hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, or not well known, or not getting a lot of likes on social media. And I think that it's such a wide range of what being an artist is and and being creative. I personally feel like we're all creative, and that might be with drawing and painting, it might be that you like cooking or gardening. Um, I hear from a lot of people actually who say when they come to one of my classes, they say that I I've been wanting to learn how to draw, or I've been wanting to draw for a long time, but I'm not creative, or I I know I'm not good. And there's a part of me every time I hear that that I'm so excited that they just showed up because it's giving that permission with this particular type of approach for art with mindfulness and meditation, that you have the permission to explore your creativity without the pressure, without expectations, and without some sort of label of you're doing it right or wrong, or you're getting graded like A through F in school, you know, and so it just removes off that pressure. And I think especially for kiddos preschool through sixth, seventh grade, it is really supportive to have another way of creating art and playing playful and expressing creatively without it being as uh standardized. There's there's a little more freedom in there. Um and I have teachers that are teaching art classes and infusing some of this in as well, that who come in my teacher trainings. And so I just want to kind of say that pressure that people feel and the belief that we have around being a quote unquote artist or creative, I think is very embedded in our society. And um, so full permission that you can doodle and that that can be art and that that can be wonderful, and that it can also perhaps help you feel less stressed. And I'll I'll just say this last part also that some people have heard of like Picasso as an example as an artist. Most people who are familiar with Picasso are familiar with his later work, which is more of the abstract expressionist. Um, he for was a very trained artist prior to that for many years did more realistic paintings. And and he there's a a story of that he creates this painting, and someone says, Oh, I look like it looks like something that my child could have made, you know, like scribbles. And and his response, which I find so beautiful that I've heard kind of paraphrased, is that it took my entire, you know, career to be able to do that, to have the freedom in our creative expression to be able to make scribbles and be okay with that. That actually I'm doing this for myself. I'm not doing it to to sell a painting on the wall. And I'm sure he sold that for a lot of money as well.
SPEAKER_00:You know, I love that because it brings a sense of liberation and freedom with what people do. And then I feel like uh authenticity um is really thing and organic things. People really, I think people really want that and appreciate that. So I love the fact that you gave that example because he seems like, like you said in the beginning, he was a trained, highly acclaimed artist who did everything, you know, I guess maybe by the book or how they wanted it to be, and then later on was just free with his expression and his art and did it the way that he wanted to do it. It took some time, but um, I I love that because it's never too late, you know, and you can never start too early. And the fact that, you know, things that are embedded into systems, that's if they're embedded in them, there are people around just like yourself to say, hey, no, no, you don't have to be perfect. This doesn't have to be scripted. We can do it exactly the way that your body or that your mind wants to do it, and it's okay. I that is just a great message, um, I think for everyone across the board. Um, if people want to reach out to you and find your work and your YouTube channel, I know you mentioned it briefly, but if you can give that to me again, that would be great. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so uh the easiest way to find me is by going to my website at mindfulcreative muse.com. And on there will be the link for the free workbook. It'll have links to my YouTube and a whole free resources page that has articles, books, videos, podcasts, etc. Um, and I'll send you the specific links that to share as well, so it's easier to find them.
SPEAKER_00:Perfect. Thank you, Cynthia. It has been a pleasure. You've given just so much wonderful information today that I greatly appreciate it. And all my listeners do as well. And anything that can give us, you know, overall wellness, our creativity, like our purpose. Um, we can give ourselves permission to be kind, non-judgmental, and and and do some repetitious acts, uh, acts of art therapy or meditation or combination, just like you said, I think could just take people to the next level, whatever that is, and whatever that means for them. Um, so thank you for giving us that wonderful message today. Thank you, Cynthia. Mindful creative muse. I love that name too, as well. Thank you for the time that you spent with me today. Me and my listeners greatly appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, thank you for having me. And I hope that folks listening, even if you try it for one or two or five minutes just to see how it feels for you. I hope that you have that experience. And thanks so much for having me.
SPEAKER_00:Awesome. Thank you.