Why Creativity Isn’t Just for Artists (It Can Change the World) with Lauren Vacey

Why Creativity Isn’t Just for Artists (It Can Change the World) with Lauren Vacey

What if your imagination was the most powerful tool you had to shape the life you love and even shift the world around you?

In this powerful episode of A Beautiful Fix, Tracy sits down with Lauren Vacey, multi-passionate artist, yoga educator, and founder of ilaSTRATE, a conscious lifestyle brand blending art, movement, and intentional design. Together, they explore how reclaiming your creativity, reconnecting with your intuition, and embracing imagination isn’t just personal, it’s revolutionary.

Lauren shares her inspiring journey from the commercial art world to building a soul-aligned business, how Human Design as a 1/3 Sacral Generator shaped her path, and why she believes our collective creativity has been systematically stolen — and how we can get it back.

If you’ve ever felt disconnected from your creative spark or wondered if your ideas could make a difference, this conversation is your invitation to slow down, tune in, and start imagining again.

We cover:

• Why imagination is more important than intelligence
• Reclaiming creativity in motherhood and business
• Homeschooling, Human Design & living in radical integrity
• Designing yoga mats that tell a story
• How to use intention + creativity to manifest personal and collective change
• How to play again, even when life feels heavy

🎧 A must-listen for anyone interested in creative living, intentional business, sacral authority, and building a world you believe in — from the inside out.

Connect with Lauren:

Website: https://www.ilastrateyogamats.com

Instagram, Facebook & YouTube: @ilastrate

Select ilaSTRATE products also sold at www.abeautifulfix.com.

Want More?

Grab your Human Design chart here

Want to unpack it together? Book a 1:1 session here

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to help you reset, reconnect, and rediscover what’s possible.

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Transcript

Why Creativity Isn’t Just for Artists (It Can Change the World) with Lauren Vacey

A Beautiful Fix

[00:00:00] We want to change the world. We can imagine compassion in the world. Maybe we can imagine the ending of all these wars and division. I don't know. I don't have all the answers. I know we all do collectively though, and I know if we put our imagination to it, we can create that.

That's the thing we project out into the world. We always think that we're taking in the eyes of the window of the soul, but we are actually projecting out. So we need to tap into that and remember that and just let go of all the hate and anger and imagine the positive that we can have in the world.

Welcome to a Beautiful Fix. I'm Tracy Hill. Each week we'll dive into the latest thought, Jim recharging and reconnecting with what lights you up and makes you feel alive. Let's discover your next beautiful fix [00:01:00] together.

 Today's guest is someone who brings beauty depth and intention to everything she touches. Lauren Vacey is a multi-passionate founder, artist, and creative motivator whose journey is rooted in female entrepreneurship, self, and radical integrity through her brand illustrate.

A conscious lifestyle brand, blending intentional design, yoga and spiritual wellness. She brings together art, movement and sacred storytelling to inspire women to ignite their inner artist. Her story is one of bold choices and unwavering authenticity, standing up for what she believes in, refusing to shrink, and building a business that reflects her values at every level.

Whether it's through a hand painted yoga mat, which I love them, a copper water vessel, it's on my wishlist or a single powerful [00:02:00] conversation. Lauren invites others to slow down. Reconnect and tap into their authentic power of imagination. Lauren is also a generator in human design with sacral authority and a one three profile, which means she's here to build what lights her up.

Trust the deep yes in her body and learn through lived experience. Lauren, welcome to the show. I'm so glad you're here. Thank you, Tracy. I'm glad to be here. Very exciting. Well, let's get, yes, let's get started. Okay. I just wanna kick things off with just a bit of your backstory. How did illustrate begin?

What led you to merge yoga, art, and spiritual connection to this beautiful lifestyle brand? Well, that's a long story. I'll try and shorten it. So, um, at the heart of everything I do, obviously I'm an artist. I started in the art industry. I, I. Got my [00:03:00] bachelor's degree in fine art and graphic design. And then I went on immediately after I graduated to work for an art consulting company, um, where I worked under the owner who was the lead art consultant.

And I learned a lot about the commercial business of art. Um. As an artist, I took the job because I thought it would be a great way for me to learn and maybe even get myself noticed or recognized, but, uh, expectations, you know, lead to disappointment sometimes. So it was a great, um, 15 years of my life. I learned a lot, but it was a very, very stressful industry.

Uh, and as I went through that industry, I found myself being very resentful that I couldn't do my own work. That I couldn't, um, focus on what I wanted to do as an artist myself. I was too busy selling other people's art, so I started doing different things. One of the things I wanted to do when I graduated college was, uh, be an automotive airbrush artist.

So I took on an apprenticeship at an [00:04:00] autobody shop that I worked after hours and on the weekends when I could to learn how to airbrush cars. 'cause I, that's one thing that I've always loved is. Automobiles, uh, classic cars, mustangs, like tho, I, I love cars and I love to drive. So, um, that, that went really well for two years, but it was a lot, uh, to keep working overtime and going, and being there a a lot after work, after the being in the office.

Uh, so. The stress level just continued to grow and that's when I kind of found yoga through, um, a, a family member who owns a studio down in Maryland. Um, and I naturally am very flexible, so I enjoyed it and it kind of just took off. I started doing yoga on the side and knowing all these different printing techniques and things that I'd learned in the art industry, and we did a little publishing.

I kind of came up with this idea. I said like, why [00:05:00] can't, I couldn't find a, a pretty yoga mat that reflected me and my expression and what inspired me. So I started kind of creating this product and that's kind of, that's where it started. That's, that's so cool. That's so unique. Airbrushing cars to, yes, to illustrating yoga map.

Yes, so the, the automotive industry in New York, I'm in New York, I'm not in California. People are very reluctant to paint on their cars here, so sure. It's not very lucrative in terms of financial return. So, um, and it's also very stressful and toxic, toxic environment and toxic. The paint itself is unhealthy to breathe in, so I'm kind of glad I didn't go that route.

But I still love the industry. Uh, but yoga mats and, and it kind of put a different spin on my artwork too, because now we're creating work that is meant to uplift people, not [00:06:00] just to, um, be a pretty mural. Yes. And can you talk a little bit about your mats? They're absolutely beautiful. Thank you. So what I try to do is, uh, create designs and not the traditional designs, although we may get into some of that, like really?

Intricate mans and stuff like that. But what I've tried to do is make my work more, um, about the color and the energy and the vibration that it gives off. So while you're practicing, not only are you being inspired by the actual content of the images, but you're also being influenced by the colors and the energy that goes into the creation of it.

And, um, they're on, they're all done on Cork, is that correct? The ones that I paint are cork, yes. Okay. We also offer another, um, product which I call pro mats, and those are printed on, so we do the design work, but they have to be printed on. [00:07:00] I see. And the cork ones are hand or they one of a kind? Each one?

Yes. Each one we do is one of a kind. And what is that like? I love doing yoga, actually. I've recently just kind of taken it up again. Mm-hmm. I do again, yoga once a week now, and it's just my favorite part of my week. But what is that like doing yoga on cork versus kind of your more standard mat? So there's a, there's a lot of stigmas in the industry about cork.

Some people love it, some people hate it. But, uh, what I found is it's in the product. So our cork is a very different than some of the other cork mats on the market where I've seen customers come to me and say, well, I tried this cork mat from this company and I hated it 'cause I was slipping all over the place.

But I know the mats and I know that that. Mat, for instance, does become slippery, but ours have a different feel. They almost feel like velvet, so they kind of act like a hot yoga towel on top. Okay. So when you [00:08:00] sweat it, it grips a little more. So when you're practicing on the cork and, and it's backed with a natural rubber about a quarter inch.

So it's got some cushion there, some rebound for your joints. And when you sweat, even if you just get a little like, like your hands get a little damp, it really grips. It's a light grip. It's not like, it's not like the, the extra grippy mats where you can't move your foot and you get stuck to it. If, if you wanna move, you can move.

But if you wanna stay in the pose, you can stay in the pose and you can roll them up just like a mm-hmm. Rather. That's wonderful. Yes. Okay. Um, well, you've talked about radical integrity. Yeah. And standing up for what you believe in, even when it wasn't the easy choice. Can you just take us to a moment where you had to choose that path?

Let me think. Well, uh, it's been, that's been like the story of my life. I can't pinpoint one exact moment, [00:09:00] but I, I do not, when I believe in something I, and I know it to be true. Sorry, my daughter's coming in. I, I can't not, um. I can't not stand up for what I believe to be true. I, I am very tapped into my intuition and I, I feel that, and I know things inherently, and when I feel, when I, when I feel like something needs to be, um, I.

Stood up for, I, I do it. I just, I, I've learned that in the course of my life that it is very important to, um, stand by your convictions and stand up for what's right. Yes. I love that. So Lauren, when we were just talking about you coming on the show, you mentioned something to me and I just wanted to, to kind of read it back. You said our imagination and creativity has been systematically stolen from us, and that's been [00:10:00] to the detriment of civilization.

So can we just unpack that a little? What, what did you mean by that? So I feel this, this is something that has been coming to me through, uh, my meditations for a long time, and I think I've tapped into something, we'll, we'll get to that in a minute. But, uh, with the advent of television and, um,

kind of this increased attention grabbing, um, stuff like advertising, social media, all these things are. Grabbing our attention and we're hyper-focused on them. And when we watch movies, it, instead of reading books for instance, it takes away our brains, uh. Natural tendency to fill in gaps in different situations.

So we are watching a movie that's, it's a very vivid retelling of a story and it, [00:11:00] it's reading the imagination for us rather than allowing us to integrate that into our own mind. Does that make sense? Yeah, absolutely. I don't know how to explain it very succinctly, but, so when you read a book. You develop your own sense of color, of form the characters.

They have their own faces. But when you, when you've replaced that now with watching, um, you know, like this, these Avengers movies for instance, where the superhero is all drawn out for you, you don't have that. So now we're getting into a, a place I feel in our history and it's, it's a turning point in humanity where we, we don't know how to use our imagination anymore.

We just don't, and we've been actually through the education system. We've been taught that that's for children. It's child's play. You don't need it anymore. Let's talk about [00:12:00] numbers. Let's talk about. Um, how to read a book. Let's talk about, and instead of allowing you to naturally develop these skills that require you to use your imagination.

So actually if we go back to your other question, when have I, um, when have I do I remember a moment that I specifically stood up for my values. I can speak to this. I homeschool my kids because I don't want them in the education system, and I feel very strongly about that. When I had my daughter. Um, my last child, I'm one of three.

Uh, I was still working for the art firm. Yes. And, um, I, I left, one of the reasons I left was to pursue Illustrate, but also because I didn't want my kids in the education system anymore. So we homeschool. Oh, Lauren. Some things up. They have a very big imagination. My kids I'm sure. Especially with you as mom.

Absolutely. Yeah. How, how, how old are they? [00:13:00] Uh, my oldest is 13, my son is 11, and my little one is, will be five in February. Oh, that's wonderful. So I, I wanna go back because mm-hmm. You touched on a couple of things Yes. To all of that. I noticed that as I'm also, I'm a mom of four and I noticed we held off with my oldest.

Um, getting him a phone for so long. Mm-hmm. But what I didn't do the math on was when he got the phone and when he got, um, not even the phone, that was later when we gave him, I think his first video game. We really did hold off, but I didn't realize that he's the oldest. So then that meant that the, the second oldest, he got into that world two years younger and then the third two years younger.

And my little one. You know, it was very early on for him, for us to start to bring these devices into the, to the home. And I have regretted that my, um, my, my son, before we gave him a phone, he used to devour [00:14:00] the Harry Potter series. Mm-hmm. Every series, they were all over his, you would walk past his bedroom and he would just be curled up with a book That all went away when he got a phone.

You could just see it. And then when we do things like, um, road trips, which I grew up doing road trips. I used to love them. When I was going on a road trip, all I could do was either talk to the people in the car or stare out the window and daydream. And I've noticed when we would take our sons on road trips, they had video games, they had contractions, um, they had things to, you know, to, to take up their imagination.

So what you said is so true. We are robbing them of, I was reading something the other day, like. Boredom, just stillness time with yourself. There's something magical to that. Um, there was something where they were talking about, um, our generation of just growing up in, you know, the eighties and we had to fill our time.

We had to wake up unscheduled and fill that time with something, and we did it. We got outside so. I completely agree. I [00:15:00] love what you're doing. And then the thing about homeschooling, you know, my sons now are all in college and have graduated, but I understand the homeschooling thing. I can now see the world from kind of a different perspective.

Um, I was reading something where they were talking about how intelligent children are just naturally. And then we throw them into a system that says, learn this way. Learn these things, compete against others, um, memorize a bunch of stuff. We're not really teaching you necessarily how to think, but just what to think.

And then we, we throw you outta the system, or you're all homogenized, you all think the same. It's, I, I can, I can certainly see it. Mm-hmm. So that's wonderful. Yeah, there, there's a great quote by Einstein. I'm sure many of you know it. Um, you've probably heard it. It says it's, um, I'm gonna read it verbatim because I think it's so important.

Um, imagination is more important than intelligence. Most people don't know. The remainder of that sentence though is for knowledge is limited to all we know now, [00:16:00] know and understand while imagination embraces the entire world and all there ever will be, to know and understand. So there's a very big difference in knowledge and just in intuitive knowing, which is part of the imagination.

You can't tap into that intuition if you're constantly berated with images and sounds and constantly, like you said, on devices and distracted. You're distracted from your inner world, from your inner mind, and you cannot listen to your intuition. You don't have to necessarily meditate, but it helps. But like you said, being by yourself, like just having nothing to do for a little, like my, my kids do get a little frustrated 'cause they sometimes don't know what to do.

Like they don't have a lot to do 'cause we don't let them watch, just watch TV or be on the phone or anything like that. But I. If I push them a little bit, they find stuff to do and they, they get to explore the things that they enjoy doing rather than [00:17:00] being told in school. For instance, you have to learn this, you have to learn that you have to read this book, you have to read that book, and then that deters them from wanting to ever do that again.

Yes, my kids read constantly all day long. It's such a good, but I need so many kids that go to school that won't touch a book. Oh, Lauren, that is such a gift, and it's also trusting with what's, with what's within, because I think sometimes you almost get trained where they have the answers or that book has the answers, or that person or that organization has the answers.

I kind of fill this inside, but I need to go check with that. I need it to be validated externally, but they're learning to trust within with their natural curiosities. That's, and I know that can be easy to homeschool three children. It's not, it's not easy and run a business. Yes. It's, it's difficult. Uh, we are trying, [00:18:00] we're doing, we're doing the best we can here, but they help, you know, like my daughter's babysitting right now.

Yes. So it's good for her. Absolutely. Absolutely. And so how do you, as a mom and a business owner and a creative, how do you personally tap back into that creative power when either the world feels heavy or loud or uninspired or you have all the things going on? Well, I have to definitely do yoga. There's no if, ands, or buts, I have to do yoga.

I meditate. I love to be in nature. We live not far from the beach. It's in walking distance, so on the north shore of Long Island. So it's nice. Sometimes I get to walk and be in. My favorite place in the world is the beach, so yes, that helps. Tapping back into nature, music is a big part of it. I need the music.

Yes. Yeah. Yes. That's wonderful. [00:19:00] So, um, well in, in human design you are, I mentioned you're a generator, uh, with sacral authority and a one three profile. So being a one three, you're wired to experiment and learn by doing. To get out there, to be messy there. I always say there's no, there's no failure when you're a one, when you're a one, three, you're either winning or you're learning.

So has that ever felt like, um, a challenge or a gift in, in what you do that, that learning from lived wisdom? Uh, it feels like a gift I think I'd have to say, because if I weren't tapped into it and like everything you just said is like spot on, I, it'd probably feel like. Like an inhibitor, but because I'm tapped into it and I'm very aware, it feels like a gift because I'm able to recognize these things and move through them.

Yes. So when I'm being messy, I know I'm being messy. [00:20:00] And, and do, do you embrace that messiness, Lauren? Or was there a point where you felt like I have to change this or I'm getting it wrong, or, mm-hmm. Or have you always kind of embraced that? If you ask my mother, she'll tell you. I've always kind of embraced that.

I think I've just accepted that I'm an artist, and as an artist I'm just a little unorganized and a little messy. But you know, it, it does get to me sometimes. I really try. I try to be organized, but maybe don't try. Just embrace it. Yeah. You're learning something from it, especially as a creative. Mm-hmm.

You are, you're creating. It's, I, I I'm on this thing of like, get messy, like you mentioned, play, play with me. Yes. Well, in art, when I'm creating an art, it's almost, uh, we, we have this running joke in my, we showed my kids, um, Bob Ross. Yes. And he always talking about happy mistakes and happy trees. So when I'm creating, I really do try to allow the mess to [00:21:00] happen and allow mistakes to happen naturally.

Those are the best actually. Um, if you try to control things too much, it doesn't really work out all the time because you can't ever, this is the thing about imagination. You can't ever copy exactly what's in your head onto paper. You can try, but you can't ever copy it Exactly. So you gotta kind of let it flow.

So with imagination. There's, it's like, it's like five dimensional almost. You can't, you can't hold onto it. You kind of just have to let it, let it into your life. And then when you're creating, you gotta let it flow out. Um, but the important thing about imagination is that we do have the ability to have vivid, vivid imagination.

And that, I think is what we create from that. We, we literally take the thought form. Put it into a [00:22:00] visual thing that we can understand in our brain, and then we project it out onto the world. It's very hard to do that when you're trying to draw it. Yes. Yeah. I, I was gonna, I was gonna ask you, with your mats, um, do you kind of sketch it out beforehand on paper mm-hmm.

Before you start? Or do you just sit down with the cork and paint and you just start going. No, I always sketch it out first. Okay. I have to spatially because like I said, what's in my head may not fit on the mat the right way. I have to sketch it out to scale. I scale it out so I know where exactly where everything's gonna lay and fall out when I'm doing something very intricate.

Um, there's some designs I've done that are, so, like my jut design for instance, it's uh, kind of like, uh, based on copper coiling. Copper coils, you know, create and hold energy, and they amplify the energy of crystals. So I created that design based on the copper coiling. [00:23:00] That was a very intentional design.

And we have that one laser engraved on all of our mats. And then I add the color by hand. How long does it take you to paint one of your mats? It depends. Some of my custom mats, uh, they, they take about six to eight weeks to work with the person to develop the design, and then it takes me a few days to sketch it onto the mat.

Then I have to burn it into the mat with a burnishing tool, and then I paint. Then I add the color. And then we seal it. So yeah, it takes a few days. Um, I'd say six hours, depending on the design, if it's a very intricate design. I didn't even realize that you did custom mats. Yeah. Yeah. So people just, they can just ask you to, whatever it is that they would like to see their mat, they can just, yeah, I will work with them directly to develop the design too.[00:24:00] 

So they might have an I like, again, here we go back to the imagination. You might have an design in mind or an idea in your head, but you can't quite put your finger on it. So that's where we talk. We discuss, I use my a little bit of intuition to kind of tap into what you're feeling and what you're wanting, and we create the design together.

Um, well, Lauren, uh, one thing that I'm, I'm just exploring a lot right now, is what it means for women to choose themselves. Hmm. I'm just, I was curious, can you share a moment in your journey where you did just that you prioritized yourself? Oh, maybe when it would've been easier not to. I, I think I do that every day when I choose to stay in business.

Um, I, I have to prioritize what I want my life to be. 'cause if I, if I lose that, then I lose myself. Yes. [00:25:00] How do you do that? I know so many women struggle with this of, of prioritizing themselves, putting themselves first, their needs first, not feeling guilt over it. How, how do you do that? Kind of, I try to look at it like this.

Um, I love my children. I love spending time with them. But they are also their own individual people and they're going to need to experience life themselves without mommy someday. So I can be there as much as I can, but it's also healthy for them to explore life without me. They don't need me every second of the day.

They don't need me every waking moment. So I try to give them their space too. And in the interim, it's very important to me. For me and for them, for me to not become, uh, lost and chaotic because I need to be able to support them too. So I try to look at it from that perspective. Like, it's all healthy.

It's [00:26:00] healthy for me to keep myself and not give my all to my family. Yes. Yes. And what a beautiful example you are, you're sharing with them. You know, they're growing up seeing you prior to Yes. It, I, I think you, it's always better when you can get from a place of overflow when you can fill yourself up and then give from that place instead of the depletion that we, we see so many people do.

Right. I, I know a lot of moms really, really love when their kids are little and they don't want them to grow up and they hold onto that and they just hold onto every moment. And I've never been like that. I've never found, seen the value in that. Like, I love them, I love them, but I also enjoy watching them grow and watching them grow up.

Yes. That's wonderful. Um, well, Lauren, before we go into our speed run, I'm just curious, is there anything that we haven't talked about that you would love to share today? Oh, no. I, I just, I want to instill in people to. Get back to using [00:27:00] your imagination. Read books, go to yoga, meditate. Allow yourself to daydream.

I know we don't wanna, we don't wanna take daydreams and think that they're gonna become reality, but manifesting really is an intentional imagination. Imagining the car you want, imagining the job you want, and, and really having a vivid vision of you in that space. Yes. And creating that full on emotional reaction to the imagination, that's what creates your manifestation.

And the biggest thing, and the biggest reason that I started tapping into this was not even for a personal gain, really, it's, it's for the world. Like we're all, we're living in a world of turmoil and we all want to change the world. We're all just. Small one person. We can't. It's only so much we can do, but we can use collectively our imagination to imagine the world that we want.

[00:28:00] And that's where really, really has an impact. We don't wanna just get a new car or a new job. We want to change the world. We can imagine compassion in the world. Maybe we can imagine the ending of all these wars and division. I don't know. I don't have all the answers. I know we all do collectively though, and I know if we put our imagination to it, we can create that.

That's the thing we project out into the world. We always think that we're taking in the eyes of the window of the soul, but we are actually projecting out. So we need to tap into that and remember that and just let go of all the hate and anger and imagine the positive that we can have in the world.

And I think that's how we do it. Yes. That's the world I wanna live in. Yes, yes. Absolutely. And I guess I never really thought of it in terms of imagination. 'cause you always hear about visioning, which we all know is so powerful. Yes. You hear about athletes doing it, it's the same thing. It's [00:29:00] using your imagination.

Right. I think that's the thing with when, when you, when they talk about invis using envisioning, like you said, there's a piece missing. The piece missing is the vivid imagination. Yes. Like really cre tapping into the colors. Everything in that, that piece that you want. And, and it's the, the emotion that's created.

That's what creates, that's what manifests is when you feel it. Yes. You feel like it's real. That's it. That's it. I think, I think once you get to that moment where you can feel it, it, you, it's already starting to come to you. Now, you may shut it off later, but it's, it's that moment of sitting in that feeling as if it's already done right.

That is, it's such a gift. I'm just curious for so many people that maybe have shut down that part of themselves, that maybe they're numb to it, they haven't picked up a paintbrush, or they don't feel like they have it in them, or they don't sing, or they feel like, you know, I'm not a creative or I'm not talented, what would you say to someone [00:30:00] who feels like that's, that's she's a creative, she's an artist.

I get it, but that's not for me. Oh, I hear that so many times. We're all creative in our own ways. You just gotta find it. Where is it? Where does it live? Um, maybe I'm a visual artist, but maybe somebody else is a athletic artist, a da, you know, a performing artist. Um, you just gotta find where it lives. And you don't have to be a dancer, a ballet artist or a a, a fine artist to be a little creative in your life.

Just a doodling a little bit releases that. I actually do a workshop. Where we kind of do that, we doodle while we feel our emotions and we let them out. It's like a cathartic experience. I love that. Yeah. And, and I think it's also allowing yourself to get messy. I think that's what holds us back. I, there's so many creative things I want to do, but it's like, I don't know how it's gonna turn out.

I don't know if I can do it. I dunno what it's gonna look like. And so you're just afraid. Mm-hmm. But it's like, you know what, what if you just did make them [00:31:00] this? Just do it. Just do it. Just do it. Yeah. Right. We do that every day here. Right? Ah, it's so fun. Um, well, we'll move into our beautiful fixed speed round.

What makes you come alive? Oh, what makes me come alive? Um, so many things. So many things. What can I say? Uh. Talking to people, having conversations like this, um, yeah, deeper conversations that, that really think speaking about things I'm passionate about and, and, uh, inspiring other people that a song that instantly shifts your energy or makes you feel something.

Oh, that would be, um, the name of the band is Stick Figure. The name of the song is Once in a Lifetime. It's a reggae band. Okay. I love reggae. Yes, but that song particularly just [00:32:00] hits me. I don't, I don't know what it is. It just hits me in a certain way that makes me very emotional. Mm. Is it on Spotify, by any chance?

Do you know? Um, I believe so. I know they're on Pandora. I think you could find 'em on Spotify too. I will look them up. How about a book? A book that cracked you open or stayed with you long after the last page? Oh goodness. Um, the Shining, that was scary. Scary books. Uh, really stick with me. Yes, yes. I read that years when I was younger, much younger.

I read that book and I still, I still very vivid. Stephen King is, I don't know how he's married. I don't even know if he's still married, but there's no way his mind is terrifying. His books are, yeah, I, I didn't read The Shining, but the movie still lives in my head forever. Jack, I read the book, um, that, that's another important thing.

Fear. Unfortunately, fear and negative emotions have a, [00:33:00] a higher impact on us. So I actually kind of try and stay away from that. Now, I read that book like years ago, but I, I try not, and I used to love horror movies. Yes. But I try not to watch them really anymore. Yes. Yeah. Or, okay. So it's not just me that used to be my favorite genre.

I loved a good, scary movie. I didn't like tor, I don't like torture. I don't like saw, I won't do that kind of stuff, but just like a good, like, Ooh, what's going on? But lately I've noticed, like my sons will say, mom, you should, I'm like, I'm not really interested anymore. Mm-hmm. Now that I understand energy.

Yeah. And the darkness of it and the low vibrational vibes, I'm like, I don't wanna do that. Exactly. Okay. All right. Mm-hmm. Um, what is your favorite little indulgence or guilty pleasure? Chocolate. Yes. It's always, yes. Yes. I cannot go a day without any chocolate. It's so good. It's so good. [00:34:00] Well, what's one thing that always reminds you how beautiful life really is?

My kids. My kids. My do. Yeah. I, I, it's, I love that I get to spend so much time with them that they're home. Yes. And they get to explore and do, just taking them to. To the beach. They, they find things in everyday, everyday stuff, rocks, shells. They find things that we don't see as adults anymore. And that, that, again, it brings us back to the power of imagination.

Kids have such, if you just watch them and listen to them, they have such an imagination. It's just an innate intelligence that we take for granted. And that always makes me. Reflect on how beautiful life is. Absolutely. And Lauren, someone said to me once, or I read it, that our children are here to teach us.

Mm-hmm. Versus it being the other way around. And once [00:35:00] I heard that, I could see it. I could absolutely see where that is true. What are your thoughts on that? Yeah, I agree. I do. Yes. I learned so much from them. When you are open to that concept, you have to set the ego to the side. And the idea that, you know, this, this little body, this little person, you know, is here to teach, it's beautiful and you can see it, just like you said, they notice things that we no longer see that we take for granted, that we walk right by, but when you can see life through their eyes again, it's magical.

Yeah. That's where they come up with all these little quis sometimes that you're like, where did, where did that come from? Like, they're smart. They, they. They just sometimes come out with these things that you're like, how? How did you even know that? Yes. Well, I just had this conversation the other day. You know, we always look to nature and we're always amazed at how they are born, innately knowing what to do.

Mm-hmm. Like, they just get right to it. A, a bird knows how to build an it. Like they just [00:36:00] know it. And I'm realizing the same is true for us. These little children running around before we condition them and put all of these thoughts in their head. They have this intelligence, this knowing just, just as, as well.

But you know. It's just something, it's, it's a new way to kind of think about it, you know? Yeah, for sure. Well, and this is kind of a newer question for me, but what's something that you're genuinely curious about right now? Something you're exploring, rethinking or, or just waking up to exploring, rethinking, waking up to, uh, ancient history and where we really came from.

I've been, uh, exploring a lot. Um, like I, I know my family history we're Italian, Sicilian, um, but I still don't really know what does that mean when we say this is their ethnicity or this is their [00:37:00] background. What does that mean? I've never been there. I don't know what it's like there. Where did I actually come from and where did the people that live there come from?

Like we're we're told stories about our history, but I'm not so sure, again, back to the public school system, I'm just not so sure. I believe it. There's things that are being discovered now that don't make sense, and I'm very curious about that. Lauren, oh my gosh. I could talk to you all afternoon because, yes, same.

And it's interesting 'cause as a little girl, I grew up not loving history. It was my least favorite subject. Me too. I just didn't, I just didn't really, but now I find myself going down these rabbit holes because I feel like I have not been told the truth. I feel like there's so much more, I'm reading a lot about the patriarchy.

I don't wanna get, you know, I love my sons and my men. This is not kind of any kind of hate, but I'm just re. Le I'm relearning about what possibly could be true. What, what might be the [00:38:00] alternative to what I have been told. And it's, it's fascinating. This world is so magical. It is. Yeah. There's so many things we, we don't know.

Uh, I, again, I, I also didn't like history in school. And when I look back at it interesting. I think I know why I, it just didn't make sense to me the way that they taught it and the, um. The timelines di the way they taught it in, in succession, not in succession, I should say. Mm-hmm. Not in succession. It didn't make sense and I hated it.

I couldn't understand it. Same. That is so interesting. Yeah. Whew. Well, Lauren, thank you. Oh, oh. And be before, um, we, we wrap. How can people find you and learn more about what you do and get into your world? So, um, I'm on Instagram. I post a lot of stuff there. So that's, um, illustrate at, at illustrate. So it's I-L-A-S-T-R-A-T-E, and [00:39:00] our website is similarly illustrate.yoga or illustrate yoga mats.com.

Either way, you can find us, follow us, sign up for our newsletters. We try to send out, you know, discounts and, um, information about what's going on behind the scenes and all that. Wonderful. Definitely check out her products. They're, they're beautiful. I carry some of them on a beautiful fix, but they're just absolutely, you know, I love beautiful things and they're, they're, they're gorgeous.

Thank you. Thank you, Tracy. Well, thank you so much for this conversation and for the way you bring beauty and bravery to everything you do. And. To our listeners, if this conversation sparks something for you, if you're feeling the nudge to reconnect with your creativity or say yes to something that's been tugging at you, let this be your sign.

And until next time, keep getting high on life one beautiful fix at a time. Thanks for listening to a Beautiful Fix. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure [00:40:00] to subscribe and leave a quick review to help others find us. And if you'd like to share your own beautiful fix or join me as a guest, reach out anytime at tracy@abeautifulfix.com. Looking forward to next time.