Episode 05: Open Your Mind to Creativity
Transcript:
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[00:00:00] We are back on another episode of The Life We Create. I am Cobain Rivers. And I'm Taylor Joy Stevens. And it's been a little bit of a hiatus, uh, it was about a week off, uh, your boy had to have a little surgery, uh, but, snip, snip, yeah, I know, right, uh, but I'm back, back at him, feeling good. We're ready to ready to chop it up with all our fellow creators out there.
Yeah. Uh, thank you all so much for the support during that week, uh, both with, uh, Cobain's recovery and supporting our show. Um, it means a lot and, uh, please continue like subscribe, share and review on Apple podcasts. Oh, that would just be. Yes, so [00:01:00] appreciated but let's get into this week's episode. Yeah, what people may not know about the reviewing thing Like on Apple podcast when they see like a new podcast get a lot of reviews Preferably good ones, but be honest when they see a lot of reviews It kind of puts a they put them at the forefront of like the feature page and that would be Pretty dope.
Yeah. Pretty dope. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Get on top of that algorithm. Yeah. Open your minds. Open them. Open them wide. What's that song that you like? It talks about opening your mind. Oh, you're talking about, um, Oh, wow. You're talking about, uh, well, is it, I don't think it's open your mind. It's, I think it is.
Well, it's not. I'm about to tell you what it is. What? It's, uh, I am your mind by Roy Ayers. It's really good. Well, we'll link it. It's a really actually it's I am your mind part two [00:02:00] By Roy Ayers. Yes Phenomenal song. Yes, really good vibes. Mm hmm. So this week we were talking about Opening your mind to trying new things and how that can improve impact increase Your creative awareness, your creativity as a whole and creativity.
Yeah. And, um, contribute to your creative life. And that's what we're all about here is building a creative life. Whether you are a person that considers yourself creative or you're a person that just wants to start being more creative. Yeah. Yeah. That's four. All of yous. Yous, yous guys. All of yous guys and gals out there.
Oh, gosh. What does that mean, open your mind to try new things? What was it? What was that about? Well, I mean, simply to be open to new experiences, new perspectives, new insights, new [00:03:00] interests, new hobbies. Just being open to trying things. Right. Right. Um. Not shut off, but open and curious. There is this article that we read when we were getting prepared for this episode.
Uh, it was a LinkedIn article and I really liked what was said in it. The, and I'll link the article there, but it was about the power of open mindedness and curiosity and stimulating creativity. And so what they said, Was being open to new ideas and perspectives allows for a diverse range of influences and inspiration leading to fresh and innovative solutions to problems curiosity and open mindedness also encourage exploration and experimentation key components of creativity I like that that the the exploration and experimentation are key components of of creativity.
Those are key components of life too. Just, I mean, there's no fun in like doing something the same way [00:04:00] over and over and over again. I mean, I'm not talking about like washing your face a hundred different times, but like, like every day, not every day is the same and it's, it's not Groundhog Day. So, Why not try something new for yourself?
Yeah, and I think it actually reminded me of what we talked about in our previous episode where we talked about perfectionism and kind of our hold ups with trying to hold ourselves to this higher standard. Standard. Standard. We got standard. Uh, the exploring and experimentation. You've got to experiment with stuff.
Try things out. You got to, you know, try things different ways. I think that's a big one. Like, um, if you, you know, for instance, as I make music, like try new ways of creating music, don't stick in the standard format of going through exactly. Okay. I know I'm going to choose. I'm going to choose these samples from this [00:05:00] library where I'm going to, I'm going to do this.
They like create New ways for you to create on. I really think that's cool because I don't, I don't think about that as often when it is things that I do all the time. You build your, you build your, uh, your, um, your templates and you build your, your way of doing things and you kind of keep that going in the interest of efficiency.
But that's not always what's best for being able to expand your creativity. I like that. Yeah. Cause that can become stale after a while. Yeah, it can. So you get like used to it. It like goes on autopilot. I think for some things that's fine, but yeah, I feel like there should be more flavor, more, more spice to your life.
Yeah. And I like that explore too. Like, You know, get out there and look for new experiences, you know, try out different, I think about food, uh, you know, people build out their palate and there's so many things that you're like, okay, I love these things. I know I love [00:06:00] tacos. I know I love pizza. I know I love hamburgers, but even in those three things, There are so many different versions of those.
There's like Korean hamburgers. There's like, uh, you've got creative tacos. You got pizza where you could put anything on pizza. I'm a pineapple person. A whole lot of people don't like that. And a whole lot of people got beef with that. I don't care. Pineapple on pizza is fire. I like it. Pineapple. Most things are fire.
Honestly, tacos are fire. Pineapple on a hamburger's fire pineapple go everywhere. Okay. All right But try something new explore open up this expand that palette Try new things even within the things that you're like, I know this is my jam look for ways to expand that Yeah, you know what you find. Yeah, so exploration Experimentation.
Kikapo has done our only life, but also to creativity. You gotta let [00:07:00] yourself try things. Yeah.
I think each day is meant to try something new or do something different. Even if it's something small, even if it's having something different for breakfast or trying a different. Coffee bean, like just little things. I feel like there's things that you can look forward to and experiment with and like do that add to your life experience.
Yeah. I actually like that. That it doesn't have to be these groundbreaking. Experiences. I mean, you could have those two. Those are fantastic as well. But even something as simple as trying a new coffee Yeah, as a person that until a year [00:08:00] ago, I didn't even like coffee. It was like it was fine I didn't give a stupid crap about it Start trying new places.
So many artists and places are popping up these days trying new specialties You find things like never would have even realized how much I do like coffee Had I never attempted to try had he never met me I mean, it's a big part of you, the people, well, actually, and that's a whole nother episode, the people you surround yourself with, like, like the people that you bring into your life, those people also expand your palate, like, because you're taking on their interest as well.
Any good friend has, has gone to something that their friend wanted to go to. Because you weren't interested in it or, or not that you weren't interested in it, but you never really would have thought about this. Uh, but they did and they were invited you. And so you went and you had a good time or, or you didn't, nor you learned, I don't like this thing, but, but you know, that's, but that's a whole nother episode, but still expand that palette.
That actually reminded [00:09:00] me, just circling back to the coffee really quick. Cause I mean, one, it's a couple of things, I think going to a different, Coffee place or like trying a different coffee drink is something, you know, it's, um, well, Julia Cameron talks about that a lot in the artist's way. And we'll get back to that.
But I experienced creativity the other day at one of our favorite coffee shops. We love this drink called the Chile Palmer and, uh, the coffee, the coffee shop is mad lab coffee shout out. Um, So it's like a strawberry fizz with coffee and so that in itself was creative and we like That's been our drink.
It really blew my mind just that the taste profile between the coffee, the robust coffee, and then you've got this like fruity, fizzy, sparkly drink. Very refreshing. So we've been loving it, but the other [00:10:00] day I wasn't really in the mood for coffee. So I asked the barista, I was like, can I do this, but with matcha instead of coffee?
First of all, I was just so stoked that he said yes, and like when I tried it, my mind was like blown again, and that was like a really creative moment for me. It was tasty. It was tasty. Yeah, so even in your day, like, and part of that reminds me of something that I think a lot of people say, creativity is a muscle.
And what do you do with muscles? If you want to build a muscle, you got to work it out. Go to a gym, get on different machines, lift different weights, work different muscles to expand your muscular stature. It's the same with creativity. Try different things, try different activities, try different locations, places, [00:11:00] do more things.
I think that really rounds out What you find out about yourself. Yeah. Yeah creating it I feel like it also I was thinking about this earlier as we were talking about this episode when you try Different things and get outside of your box with different experiences They actually end up becoming like memories for you and like moments where you can like recall where oh I remember when I did this and I felt good or like I felt this and I it was a different experience and Um Yeah, it, the art, again, the artist's way, like, taught that to me, like, through the experience of doing it.
Make memories. Yeah. Love it. That's, that's a, that's another, that's another one going on in a shirt. Mm hmm. Make memories. Yeah. I think that is such a great, [00:12:00] Thought process you do these things to create these memories. Yeah, and and they help expand those horizons there's a Fellow youtuber that we like a lot.
His name is Heinz and he's really He's really such a chill personality, very zen, um, but he talks about things like creativity and uh, you know, I think a couple of years back he started doing this thing where every day he would practice doing something creative. And so for him it was creating content, um, I think it's expanded to a lot of different things now, but something that he said that I just, and I'm going to read it from the phone.
Uh, that's. I love uncertainty has the spirit of a child because it has questions and it's full of opportunities and that's what it's like when we try something new in the creative field. And I love that. Be uncertain about what you're doing. It's not about the outcome. It's not about whatever is going to come from this.
It's about the experience, that moment. [00:13:00] It's about what you're going to get from that. And that's what we do when we're kids. We go out and we try things. We, we, we go just do stuff because it sounds fun. Not because I think it's going to make me the best basketball player in the world or because I think I'm going to, doesn't think I'm going to become Picasso.
I, I started finger painting because that just sound like fun. Yeah. Yeah, I, uh, I think it also, it doesn't have to be in these grandiose ways. I think you can work it in, in small ways in your life. And I was just thinking now as you were talking, like, I'm sure you could even consult CHAT GPT. Like, Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Help me find more ways to be creative in my daily life. And you'll get like a whole list if you need some help, you know? Um, but yeah. Yeah. Um, well, it's funny when you, when you talked about doing it in these small ways, and I think that reminded me kind of a period of time. When [00:14:00] people were trying to be as creative as possible, uh, and that was during the pandemic when people were kind of going stir crazy, being quarantined in the house or only being able to go to a park and they had to kind of figure out these new ways.
To one, entertain themselves to, to, to challenge themselves, uh, Three, to kind of escape the madness of it sometimes, I think. Yeah. And one of the big things that a lot of people started doing was cooking. Uh, there's so many, uh, I just remember so many celebrity cooking shows that came out during that period of time.
Cause they, they were like, I don't know what I want to do, but I've been wanting to cook. So many sourdough bread. Uh huh. Like. Yeah, so that's, that's such a low risk and low effort way of, well, it may not be low effort. Sometimes these things take some time. Uh, but you know, it's one of those things that, you know, I don't think, I don't think it requires too much concern about what's going [00:15:00] to happen in a couple of weeks ago or a couple months ago, I made a pizza from scratch.
I was very proud of myself. I made the dough, I made the sauce, everything from like tomatoes, from yeast. I, I made everything from scratch. It was the tomatoes from scratch. Okay. I didn't make the tomatoes, tomatoes I bought from the store. Uh, but everything was, I was from scratch. Not, not the specific ingredients, but the whole, whole meal.
Jeez. Uh, anyway. It was like the best meal I've ever tasted. Now, I'm going to be honest. And it's probably very biased because I did all that work. It took like, You literally tasted like the sweat equity. I did. It tasted the sweat equity of my hard earned. That was my heart. That was my reward for my hard work.
Hours. It was hours. It took me, I think the, I'm gonna be honest with you. I think the recipe was like, It was supposed to take you just a couple hours. I think it took me like four hours to make things And then you gotta make let the dough [00:16:00] stay for like hours on you Um rise here, but it was just so good and i'm so proud of myself afterwards.
I felt really good about that And that was like the only creative thing I did that day. I didn't do anything else everything else is kind of work related some other things but like At the end of the day, I felt really good. And I even remember getting into my, my chat with my friends and being like, yo, let's open a pizza shop.
I think we can do it. Uh, it's cause I felt so like hyped about this new experience. Uh, and so that's something that was such a low. Low effort, but the feeling I got from it was, I can't even tell you, like, I felt like I was on top of the world. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think you ultimately like learned something about yourself in that moment too.
I can make some pieces. So whoever wants some pizza, eat me up. Yeah. But, um, yeah, I think, I mean, you briefly mentioned [00:17:00] the pandemic, uh, I feel like that was one of my opportunities where I got to explore like within my creativity. Um, and you saw a lot of other people doing it too. I know you mentioned the cooking, but like you saw a lot of roller skating going on.
Um, some of my things, That I took up and I wanted to do for so long one was skateboarding Hmm So I took that up during the pandemic and that was something my inner child was like, let's go Like we've been wanting to do this and like I finally like had the space and time to do it What did that what that dirty look like for you?
well one it actually Evolved from like a character that I developed Um, and I was like, well, I've always wanted to like learn How to do it. I'll just cruise a little bit and um Yeah, I just got a board and [00:18:00] started. I don't know learning Um, I had a good friend who's like a pro skateboarder Who is uh teaching me a lot shout out steve.
Um I don't know what else about the process, but like, I, I just, I guess I would, so it moved beyond cruising to like wanting to learn little tricks here and there and like, just be more creative while I'm on my board. Yeah. Um, and going to the skate park and watching people and like talking to people and like meeting people and um, Just kind of developing that skill.
Uh, yeah, I miss it. I want to get back in the saddle. I haven't, I haven't done it since, you know, getting, being pregnant and then giving birth, but, um, it was something that like sparked so much joy for my inner child and like, Expanded my creativity overall. Yeah. Yeah. And I think what's also cool about that is it didn't just expand your creativity, but it also expanded your social connections.
Um, [00:19:00] like you said, you're, you met new people. You kind of became part of a new community. Um, that you weren't previously a part of, um, I think that's, that's cool as well. So that's the other part of the new experiences that, that you get is you're opened up to a whole new community, a whole new type of people that you may not have realized were even there before.
Um, as far as, I know you said you kind of jumped from cruising to, to doing tricks. Was that a pretty process or, or, you know, were there, were there like any tough days for you or was pretty much picking up right away? Oh no. Okay. So some things I did pick up pretty well. And I think overall, like my technique was good, but I still, I still have not gotten an Ollie to this day and I don't know what the hell it is.
It's something about the mechanics or something, but like, I dunno, I can, I can do a shove it pretty easily. I can do like, I don't know. It's the fluid movements I'm good with, but like [00:20:00] something about that Ollie and I want to get back into doing it because I even started a whole series on Tik Tok of like, it's time to get this Ollie.
It was actually really funny because Taylor's whole life. Like for like a year and a half, like was just skating like that. Like everything was about skating and she's kind of skate or dive for a minute there. Yeah. Yeah. It was the, uh, it was the classic, um, I don't know, you, you know, and love those ADHD years in your life that are like really gung ho about something.
And then they like pivot into something else. Thank you for supporting me. But like, I intend to get back, I intend to get back into it because it was really good for my mental health. Yeah, well it's funny, you know, I think about, because that was a time for me as well where there's a skill that I picked up that kind of took over my life and it's what I do almost every day now.
Um, that's when I really got into editing. Uh, was during the pandemic was, um, I, I [00:21:00] just recently got back into, to filming, um, and then we got locked up, locked up for, for a period of time. And so I just kind of started editing stuff. I stopped footage, shooting stuff around the house, just kind of putting little things together.
Um, and that's where I found, uh, My creativity and kind of trying out different things and, uh, really trying to expand that muscle I was doing for like, I think it was for like six months. I was doing like a tutorial, like every day I was just doing the tutorials, like just tries. Oh yeah. Yeah. I was there like you were honing, you were honing those skills as a homie.
Uh, But it was, it was one of those things, uh, where there was an opportunity, we had time. So there was an opportunity for me to really tackle something that I'd been wanting to. And it's so funny because like I went to school, uh, for video [00:22:00] production, um, and hated editing in school. It was like, I just wanted to fight the computer every time I was like, it's not the part that I want to do.
Uh, . That's so interesting. It it is, it is. Well, I think it's because it was so, I I, because I didn't know the program yet. It was so technical right away. But you are so technical. That's why I find it so interesting. Well, but you were more on the performing side still then, or? I, I, no, then, 'cause even then, like I was, my, I wanted to direct that was like what I was focusing on directing and then all, you know, uh, cinematography, like that was like the focus, but.
There's just something about the, the editing program and we were learning final cut and that's what I was in. This was, this is not even final cut, like X. This is our final cut 10. This is final cut seven. So this is like the, this is like the, the throwback one. Um, and it just was, [00:23:00] I don't know. I just, I just.
You weren't excited by it. Was not excited about it. Um, wanted to be, I think what, what I wanted to do was, It was, I wanted to be on set more than I wanted to be behind a computer, um, and, and I not onset like in front of the camera, but I just, I wanted to, I loved being on set. Just loved it. Um,
well, I was going to say that I think maybe there was a downfall in that program because editing
and teaching that, no, I'm saying it wasn't, it was me. Okay. I was the problem. Well, I was going to say, because to understand, especially from this point of view, like, How, how much editing really does go hand in hand with how the story is told and being in communication with the director and all that stuff.
Oh, oh, my teachers, they said that they were like very adamant about how one of my teachers understood that I wanted to direct in his information was, [00:24:00] if you can learn editing, you'll be a better director than you think you'll be without it. Fast forward to now as an editor. Yeah. Because there is a better understanding of final product that you have when you can understand the editing process.
When I, now when I shoot things, I'm shooting things thinking about what the edit's going to look like. Yeah. Opposed to shooting things and hoping that it comes together in the end. Uh. Yeah. And so I, that was something that I, you know, I really, I, Which is funny because there are things that clearly stuck.
So I reclaimed clearly things I heard but I was like, I don't care what this guy's talking about. Sounds like Sounds like you weren't as open. I was not. I was not. I thought it well, you know, you're young I thought I knew everything that I needed to know. I thought I knew what my path was. It turns out I didn't know anything But got into editing It was something [00:25:00] that I really enjoyed day in, day out, fast forward 2024, and it is how I make most of my living.
It is how, what is what my life is, is editing most of the time. And that's wild that something that was just a random thing I was going to try to do during the pandemic, uh, because I had time, became my life. Yeah. Yeah, wasn't in the plan wasn't a thought process didn't even want to do it before Yeah, now I love it.
I love editing so much. It's not my you know in goal Like I'm not I don't plan on being an editor forever I plan on being a part of the process, but I love it and I enjoy it. I love the creation process I love taking footage and looking at footage and finding the story within that footage. I love doing it with footage I didn't even shoot You send me footage.
I'm like, Ooh, let me figure out how to make this really tell a story. And I love, I love it. It's just [00:26:00] something about it that is just magical. Uh, so shout out to all the editors out there sitting behind a computer for 20 hours looking at one minute of footage. Yeah. And all the ways when she can cut it and.
Yeah. All that stuff. Yeah. So pandemic. That was, that was a big one. I think for a lot of people. Um, yep. I'd love to hear what some of you all did during the pandemic and, and, and after that and what you, you found out about yourself, um, you know, I, one of the things I think about too, for people is so many people started businesses.
And the pandemic, uh, they were, you know, of course we did, uh, but I remember people were at one point creating these like mask design businesses cause that was popping for a minute. Other people, other people that I know that transitioned to them later on actually starting full like apparel lines and now they're selling their clothes on clothes.
Um, there were so many people that I know that started doing like marketing stuff. It's just, it's, it's wild. Opening yourself up to [00:27:00] something and just trying it can lead to one of my homies, Zach, which I mentioned last episode This guy's like the crypto king. Now, like like he his mindset around uh web3 and around nfts and just that whole process that whole Yeah.
He really, he really kind of hunkered down during the pandemic, learned a lot of stuff, but it became a part of something that you really enjoyed afterwards. So it's crazy that just you try something new, you don't know where it's going to lead you. Yep. Yeah. You have no clue. There's a video. Of Ethan Hawke.
Who's he saying? Yeah. So, uh, is this really great at what actually this video was filmed during the pandemic? Uh, this is the pandemic episode. Yeah. Uh, the beauty that came from the pandemic. Um, and he was talking about creativity as a whole, [00:28:00] but some of the, something that he said just really like struck a chord and he was talking about how like you need to play the fool.
Like, you know, you shouldn't read, don't feel like you should read a book, like read the book that you want to read. Um, if you've, if you're used to listening to a certain kind of music, listen to something else. Like, uh, what was the last thing he said? Um, it was, it was the book, it was the music. Basically just like.
Being foolish and just doing the things just because you want to do them and just letting yourself play. There is no path. There's no path till you walk it and you have to be willing to play the fool. So don't, you know, read the book that you should read. Read the book you want to read. Don't listen to the [00:29:00] music that you used to like.
You know, take some time to listen to some new music. Take some time to talk to somebody that you don't normally talk to. I guarantee if you do that, you will feel foolish. That's the point. Play the fool. Like, don't be afraid to like mess it up because there's no messing it up. You're just exploring, like we said, and like having fun and like learning and, and that's what, you know.
Exploring creativity is about I think mm hmm. I think about you and the artist's way often There's a book that I thought from from the bystander Side of things it was cool seeing how that played a part in One you getting just comfortable with living in your creative skin But to how I think happy it made you [00:30:00] Um, there, there were so many moments after you do an activity or after you'd go on, uh, it has you do the, I don't know if we talked about this last episode, but it has you do these creative dates where you take yourself on an artist date.
Um, it'd be so cool talking to Taylor after a day where she took herself out on an artist date and finding out what she did or what, what you like found out, what you experienced. Um, there was just such a glimmer of excitement. That, that kind of like existed within you when you talk about those things.
Uh, and that was really cool. Uh, and so I think that, that reminds me of why it's important to read what you want to read, do these things that you want to do because you're feeding your spirit, your soul. And that's the, the people that you see who are constantly feeding their soul, like it's like they live on another plane of existence.
They're just like out here. Just enjoying everything. And you're like, yo, why are you so [00:31:00] happy? Well, that's how it's supposed to be. It is. That's how it's supposed to be. And I love that Julia Cameron really, Cameron really encourages that because that's where I learned to follow my interests and what I want to do and kept listening to the small nudges within me and like getting to know myself more.
It was just really cool and I've done it twice now and you know I'll probably do it again at some point because there's always something To learn, you know more to be revealed. You've been through it twice. Yeah I actually went through the second time with my mom and that was like a really healing experience for both of us and like our inner children and like It was fun to share that with her.
That's actually fire. Yeah. All right. So yeah, do it with a, a friend, a family member. Yeah. Yeah. That's a group. Yeah. That's fire. We might actually, we might have to do like a Yeah. The life we create collaboration group where, yeah. A bunch of us get together and hit that artist way up. I love that. Yeah.
[00:32:00] Great. All right. Mm-Hmm. Uh, so lessons for today make memories. Play the Fool, Explore, Experiment, Try New Things, Follow Your Joy, Mm, Yeah, Cobain Rivers, Taylor Joy Stevens, This Is The Life We Create, Make Sure You Like, Subscribe, Follow, Tell Your Friend, Tell Your Friend's Friend, Review, Make A Song About Us, Do It All, Be Creative, Until Next Time, Have A Good Week, Bye.