Finding Joy Through Creative Outlets: Unleashing Your Creative Identity" - Mindset Monday

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Season of Self Love Podcast. I am your host, Nyomi Banks, and I am thrilled to have you join me on this transformative journey. You see, every day we dive into a powerful conversation about self-discovery, healing, and empowerment. This podcast is brought to you by Ask Nyomi and Elevate Me Self Discovery, where we believe that loving yourself is the first step to living a fulfilling life.

[00:00:26] You can expect insightful discussions, practical tips, and inspiring stories. Plus, we occasionally welcome special guests who will share their unique perspectives on self-love and personal growth. So get comfy, grab your favorite beverage, and let's embark on this journey together. Because it's time to embrace the beautiful person that you are. So let's elevate our lives one episode at a time. Now let's get started.

[00:00:58] All right, my beautiful people, welcome back to the Season of Self Love Podcast. Today is Mindset Monday here. I'm your host, Nyomi Banks, and I'm truly excited that you are here to kick off a brand new month of inspiration, healing, and vibrant expression. You know, this month we're diving into the theme that truly speaks to the heart of self-love and personal transformation.

[00:01:21] We're calling this creativity and expression. It's all about finding joy through creative outlets and reconnecting with those soulful expressions as part of ourselves that may have been pushed aside. And to help us guide through this first mindset, Mother, you know who it is, Dr. Will Washington. We'll be joining us in a moment, right? Right? So let's do this. Let's take a quick break. And when we come back, we're going to bring Dr. Will to the stage, all right?

[00:01:47] It's your girl, you got it, it's Nami Banks here on the Season of Self Love Podcast. And we'll be right back. Dr. Will Washington Wellness Institute focuses on healing always. For me, if I look good, then I feel good. If I feel good, then I share the good. If I share the good, then I celebrate the good. If I celebrate the good, then I live the good. So I can be paid to be my greatest. But I have to learn the good to be the good.

[00:02:12] So, what does it take to be the greatest? It's as simple as a free 15-minute consultation. Be kind to yourself and heal always. Hey, it's your girl, you got it, it's Nami Banks. And make sure you tune in every Thursday night to Ask Naomi Bridges and Gap Podcast, where we talk about everything from love, sex, relationship, cultural differences, and so much more by bridging the gap between them all. And we even talk about spiritual uplifting.

[00:02:41] If you need to stop by me and Dr. Tom, Mike Mike, as well as the BTG group. We have some amazing guests that come to us. You never know. Just make sure you tune in Thursday night, 6 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. Go to Ask Naomi.com and tell them I am the message. All right. Well, welcome back. Hey, Dr. Will. It's so good to see you. We get it going. Let's do this.

[00:03:08] All right. Look, we're just glowing and shining. All right. Pink lemonade. That's what I'm loving. I'm loving it here. It's time. It's pink lemonade season. Yeah. All right. So are you ready for this? I know you are because you ain't nothing but creativity and joy just all over. This is my bag. This is my bag. I am Black Boy Joy. I'm walking for him. This is it. So yeah, like this is what I do. This is what I do.

[00:03:34] All right. Beautiful. All right, my beautiful listeners. Right now, you know how we do it. Let's just ground ourselves before we get into the topic at hand. All right? So if you take a moment right now and just close your eyes and get comfortable. All right?

[00:03:48] All right. Close your eyes. I want you to take a deep breath. And as you inhale in, I want you to feel the creative energy that is flowing. Feel it like it's a light of sunlight filling the room.

[00:04:25] And as you exhale, I want you to exhale any doubts or any fears about your ability to create.

[00:04:36] I want you to let them melt away with any, with every breath. Now, as you breathe in again, I want you to breathe in creativity. I want you to remember this, that you are creative being, that you are inspired, and that you are enough.

[00:05:12] So when you are ready, gently open your eyes. All right, my beautiful people. If you're new here to the Season of Self Love podcast, this is something we do every day Monday through Friday just to ground us before we get into the top of the hand. All right, doctor, are you ready? Yeah, let's do this. Yes. Let's start talking about it. Why? Why is creative expression a very powerful tool for our journey of self-love?

[00:05:40] And what's going on mentally and emotionally, and even spiritually when we allow ourselves to create? Yeah. So the most exciting thing about this is that creating is our first form of identity, right? When we're becoming ourselves, we're learning who we are. We're going through the world, not really understanding. Like when you come out the womb, you don't understand oppression. You don't understand taxes. You don't understand bills. You don't understand money. You don't. All you have is relationship.

[00:06:10] And through relationship, you start creating things. And so it's amazing how we think of creativity. I'm not just thinking about being artistic. I'm not just thinking about it's the learning how to express yourself and how people receive that and how you give that. And so creativity is the first relationship we learn that identifies who we are. So, you know, I think it's so important to talk about this because this is a foundation for development. And this is also a foundation for self-discovery and healing.

[00:06:40] So this is like step one. And a lot of us miss this because we forget this as adults that our creativity is our identity. Yeah. You know what I love is I love how therapeutic it can be. When we talk about mentally, emotionally and spiritually. And I want to just go back to the spiritual side. I was listening to Bob Proctor earlier this week and he was saying something about about being how we God is creative.

[00:07:09] And sometimes we look outside of ourselves to find a God and we don't be as creative as we're supposed to. So we're supposed to be made in that image of him. Why don't we connect and hook and allow our creativity to take us further in life, whether that be mentally, emotionally, spiritually? You know what I'm saying? Instead of us just being and I don't want to say one trick pony, but, you know, I'm saying just one sided and just like here.

[00:07:37] Instead of allowing our thoughts and our emotions become creative, you know, where it just, you know, that we don't have a limit to any of our thoughts patterns and it just go. Because why I feel like this, because creativity is in so many things. It's love. It's love. You know, it can be hate too, but it's love. It's language. You know what I'm saying? It's honesty.

[00:08:03] It's so many different things if you truly tap in to your creative being. Yeah. And I love that you said that because there is a space where in your healing process, even when, even just in being in love, right? You become more creative. The best romance is the most creative romance, right? The things that make us pause in all ourselves is the thought, the intentions of the creativity that's actually happening.

[00:08:31] And so for me, when I look at creativity from a mental health perspective, I'm thinking about how do you offer yourself the space to be open? How do you offer yourself the space to be heard? How do you offer yourself the space to be vulnerable and committed to the path of your feelings? That is the creativity. And some people do it through art. Some people do expressions and do relationship. But you learn that the person that becomes the most creative, they do not limit themselves. Right.

[00:08:59] They do not hold themselves back. Yeah. So how do we, you know, this is something that I wanted to talk about next week about the blockage. But let's kind of dip into that a little bit right now. Because a lot of people think they need permission to be creative. People always think that being creative is a gift or they have to be perfect. You understand what I'm saying? When you think of creativity, you think of dance. You think of music. You think of painting. That is what people think about.

[00:09:28] They don't think about using the things around them for a creative imagination to allow you to take something further. Does that make sense? Yeah. And I'm not sure to be funny, but there's a reason why I do parkour. And when I do free running, you know, I could just jog down the street. I really could. I could just jog down the street. But my body just doesn't let me do that. If I jog down the street, I'll start thinking about the oven. Like, did I turn the oven off? Did I turn the microwave off?

[00:09:58] Like, what time did I put the ice in the freezer? I think about all this stuff. And when I'm doing parkour, it's I look at the same path I would jog. And I would think about how can I express movement from this path to this path. And it sounds crazy sometimes. But to be able to look at something normal and to find yourself in it. Yeah. Right? To create a how to engage yourself so much that you can implement yourself into that moment.

[00:10:24] That is a beautiful moment of focus, expression, and creativity. And I have you at the same time. Because those three things are very different, but they all need each other. Yeah. You know, as you're saying that, this reminds me of my mother. So let me say this. I've shared with the audience all the time. You know, all the time that my mom was, you know, diagnosed with dementia. You know, you think certain things that ain't got the right mind or whatever. My mama got all of her mind. So when we go out, whether we're walking in a park or whether we're riding in a car,

[00:10:52] she will look at different things like the clouds. And she is creating so many different images that she sees that I might not can see. So that is how tapped into her creativity that she has. And I think, I truly believe that people do not understand how powerful just being still, even when we meditate. Even when we meditate in that moment, we are in, we are creative.

[00:11:21] So even when we do the guided meditation, we actually just guiding them to open up their mind, to be creative to where you're being or where you want to be, whether it's peace, whether it's as a solace or whatever it is. But I just, I, I shared that is because no matter what it is that you are going through in life, you can be creative and you can be expressive in that. Yes.

[00:11:49] And I think being expressive in that requires you letting go, especially with people that have like depression, right? You're holding onto something that no longer helps you move forward, right? You're at an emotional impasse. People that deal with anxiety, they're focused on the what if of life. You know, people that deal with a major depressive disorder, right? Having that ideation at times of life-threatening ideation, you know, you have to relearn about giving yourself the chance to live.

[00:12:18] Well, how can we, what does living look like from a creative perspective, right? What does living look like from a creative perspective? Because many of us are forced to perform in the worlds that we live in. And so we feel like we don't have chance or choice and we feel limited by that. So I even think about just like, what is it that will give you the creative lifestyle that you may not be offering yourself at this moment? It's a great way to start that process. Yeah. You know, can I, can I, I want to, and it's not a challenge. I promise you it's not.

[00:12:48] It's not a challenge. But what would that creativity look like for meaning? And I guess I want to make sure the understanding is that you don't have to be talented for creativity. And I think that's where we get it. You understand what I'm saying? I think that's where we get it. It's actually more fun when you're, when you're bad at it. It's actually more fun when you're bad at it. Yes.

[00:13:12] But I, I want, I, I, I want to make sure that the listeners understand that creativity doesn't mean that you are Picasso or you are Beyonce or you, you know what I'm saying? It's that, that with creativity or you were just this, this great, amazing writer, you know, sometimes it's just taking those things that are, um, that bring, um, influence in your life, you know, whether it's a color, you know, like you right now, you rocking lemonade

[00:13:41] pink, you know, right now that is creativity for you because it influenced something different in your life. You know what I'm saying? So it's like taking that, um, to bring that forward. So maybe that can help you to understand what creativity looks like for you. And I guess that's what I'm, I want to do is kind of like, let's kind of, you know, put the layers back on being creative and being able to express that. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's, that's a beautiful question. Answer it.

[00:14:11] It is a challenging question. And it's a good question too, because, because we can, we can break it down. So like, to me, I see five layers simply. So the first layer is understanding your intention. A lot of us don't understand our intentions towards the things that we do. And even when I work with Grammy award-winning nominating artists, when they have their burnout, we focus on intention. They lost their intention, right? Like these people at this high level of performance are also having the same burnout as someone

[00:14:39] that's just started drawing, right? So, so it's, it's the same energy. So first intention. Then you peel that back. The second one is options and limitations. How are you giving yourself the option to be present in that creative process? And how much are you limiting yourself? Many times we don't allow our options and our limitations to see each other. Sometimes we're like, I'm limited. I'm limited. I'm limited. But you're not focusing on your, your options. Yeah. Right. And you peel that back as the opportunity.

[00:15:08] Are you giving yourself the opportunity? A lot of us do not present ourselves the opportunity or relish in the opportunity that's actually present because of insecurity, fear, thinking about other people feel like, which is goes to the fourth one. It's self-concept. Do I understand who I am? And do I understand why I'm going through what I'm going through? Sometimes you have to just sit, like you said, be still and sit and really understand what you're really going through. Many of us just feel it.

[00:15:36] And then we just kind of run through it all and just work through it all, burn out. And, you know, it is not conducive to healing. And then lastly, healing is a lifestyle. So that's my philosophy. And I say that intentionally because of this exact purpose. Yeah. Because when you make healing a lifestyle, I'm not the trauma that I went through. Yeah. I have to live my life with my healing. So to live my life with that healing of knowing that I'm healing and I'm knowing I'm moving on,

[00:16:04] I have to be creative in the lifestyle of healing that I'm choosing. So that autonomy is something that's so empowering. So yeah, I would, if I had those five things, that's really when I say be creative, I mean, be all those five things before you're creative. Yeah. I love that. I do. I love that. As you see, I'm shaking my head. You know, because in the beginning of this year, you know, even though I, you know, I had a plan exactly on how everything was going to be, you know, I'm one of these high

[00:16:34] level people, but I had to be still in moments and be like, okay, hold on. Like, I know what your intentions are, but do you remember your intentions? And that's when you have to go into that inner person, that inner of yourself. You know, when you have to really tap in and be like, okay, are those intentions still there? Because let's be honest. Sometimes those intentions could change. Mm-hmm. And they do. Yeah.

[00:17:04] And they do every time. And depending on the people you're around. Yeah. The people they, like, I'm not trying to be funny, but I don't like being around non-creative people. That's, and I'm not saying that people are bad, but it's just, man, the language is different. The intention is different. The way they, the way they even eat juice, drink juice. They just, they just, they're just different. They're different. And it's that, and you see them. Yeah.

[00:17:33] Even, even it's just the way that they dress. Yeah. Right? It contributes to your creativity. Yeah. Everything is an inspiration if you're willing to look at it. Yes. And you're willing to receive it. Yes. Everything is an inspiration if you, if you have it in you. And that's what makes it such a beautiful experience. Yeah. I love that you said that and why I love that you said it and why I giggle. It's because just this morning I said, you know what? I need to stop talking to this person.

[00:18:03] Sorry. You know what I'm saying? It's just like, and I promise you I'm not being mean at all. But when you, when you are constantly sitting in your awareness and you, you constantly like, okay, hold on. That's a little bit of a tone that you are a part. Where is this? Where, what is coming in between? What is coming from this talking in this relationship? You know what I'm saying? Like spending days and hours or whatever, talking to this person in your.

[00:18:34] Uh huh. I'm not, I'm not trying to be funny, but. Today I also had that moment. I was like, I learned the pace of my piece. I've learned what I've learned by pace. Like I know my rhythm now. I know my rhythm. And when people make me question or, or turn me away from the rhythm, I know I'm supposed to be having in my day. That you get, that's it.

[00:19:02] It doesn't, I normally I'd be like, oh, you got five more strikes. It's okay. No, we get, you get two strikes. Yeah. One, because I'm giving you a chance. And the second time, because this is me learning you. This is me learning myself. I'm learning myself at this point. And I can still be cool with you. We can still be, but I'm not going to make an effort to make time. I'm not going to make an effort to open up the same way I was before because I learned my pace. And I don't like when people take me out of my pace. That's a thing. You know, we just went through that today. Yeah.

[00:19:32] We, we just did that today. And we, I mean, you both locked in. We did work. Yes. I asked you two questions. All right. It's done. And it was done. That was a creative process. That was a creative process. We figured it out. We sure did. We didn't even decide. We didn't even decide. We just did it. But that's like mine. Yeah. You have to be around your people. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:20:01] You have to be around the people that inspire you to be yourself. We're around so many people that are not inspiring us to be ourselves. Or they typically just challenging us based upon who we are. Yeah. Being challenged for who you are is not the same as being creatively inspired by somebody. Completely different energy. Don't confuse those two. Oh, you know, last month. Remember we talked about mask on, mask off, right? This is a part of that. This is a part of that. Oh, no. I forgot about that. Oh, I'm really excited. Go there. Okay.

[00:20:31] Say more. This is a part of that. You know, because a lot of times when you can't see your creative being at all is because going back to just your surroundings and the people that you are with, it doesn't help you to tap into that because they don't have that. Everybody is walking around with a mask and trying to be something more for one another. You know, whatever that more is for one another. So no one's showing up as their authentic self.

[00:21:00] But if you can really sit and embrace that you are a creative being in that creation, there is no perfection to it. It is no perfection to it. Oh, I'm so glad you said this because I didn't realize I was a creative. I was a creator. I didn't realize that. So I just thought, oh, I'm a trombone player. Oh, I'm a trumpet player. Oh, I'm a tuba. I was just like, oh, I'm this player. I'm this player.

[00:21:29] And I was like, oh, no, I'm a musician because I play a lot of different instruments. And then for about five, 10 years, I was just like, yeah, I'm a musician. I'm a professional musician. And I thought I was saying I was a better musician by saying I'm a professional musician. But I realized a musician is a musician, right? Then I got to this next realm of creativity that made me realize, oh, no, I'm an artist. Because what I do is not just the music. It's the way that I look at the world as an artist.

[00:21:57] And then as I'm living through my artists, I started healing myself through my art. And now I realize, oh, I'm a creator. I'm a creator. And I specialize in frequency. So even in my own healing process, I went from music to sound to frequency. And now I see frequency as the whole, sound as the parts, and then music as the language. And so it's been a whole other world.

[00:22:25] And now I see myself as Dr. Will, the creator. I'm a creator now. And it changed the way I look at possibility. Yeah. You know, I think it's been beautiful. Yeah. You know, I love that. So when you were saying that, I said soundtrack. We talked about this last year, about the soundtrack of your life. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah. Yeah. So let's talk about our life being a canvas. Let's talk about our life being a canvas.

[00:22:53] And as we be creative, just even with some of that shit from the past, even the shit that's going on right now and things that you wanted in the future, these are things that you can take each part of that and create something so amazing for your canvas. So you can always make that canvas blank and start all over again. But as you tap into what that creativity look like, what influenced me from parts of my life through it that helped me form my self-love? What do my self-love look like?

[00:23:23] What does the picture of my self-love look like? What are the colors that I want to use that's a part of my aura, that's a part of my, you know, my foundation? This is what you can do with that creativity and your expressions because they have a different color, different certain themes. You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, I call it being a walking mosaic because I believe that I am pieces of experiences and we've all decided to agree to work together.

[00:23:53] And a lot of us put that canvas in the trash and think we got to get a whole new canvas. I'm like, no, no, put that one you put in the trash back because the truth is that there's nothing wrong with that one, but you were taught to throw that away. You didn't learn enough from that canvas yet until you painted it over. My thing is you usually paint over once you live your lesson. Now you learn your lessons when you live your lessons. And that's, there's a difference. I know, I can see when someone's living their lesson and someone that's learning their lesson.

[00:24:19] I can tell the difference, especially when, because of whatever I went through, because of what I went through, I can tell where other people are at. And that's what makes healers so amazing because healers can notice where people are at and they don't adjust them. They don't change them. They help accept them for that moment that they're at. And that's a beautiful thing about healers as well. I always love being around them. Yeah. So I want to, I want to take a little scoop back for a second because we know what learning and living.

[00:24:49] Give the audience what you mean by that, because a lot of them don't know what you're saying. Yeah. So real quick, learning, learning a lesson is understanding that you're not going to be with all the resources and abundance that you need to complete the things that you know. When you know things, when you're, when you're learning your lesson, you know these things, but you lack the resource to truly complete it.

[00:25:14] And so the trial and error that you experience is going to allow a type of character building, personality growth, and a little bit of different environmental situations that allow you to really sharpen that, that, that, that, that edge, that sword that you're creating right now. And then living the lesson is you're no longer worrying about trial and error. You're learning about the way of life. You're learning about the way of life rather than the impact. Right.

[00:25:42] So when you're, when you're learning a lesson, you're, you're trying to figure out the impact of living the life. You're, you're living the way of the lifestyle of that lesson. Thank you for that. Because, you know, people say, well, I'm learning. So I'm, I'm, I'm learning. So that means I'm living, you know, and, and, and it's two distinctive things, but it's so, it's so distinctive, but it's still that fine line. Oh, but like, like, look, look, do real quick. What's five times five? 25. What's six times six?

[00:26:12] 36. You didn't have to learn that, did you? No. You've been living that. You've been living that. You ain't, you ain't struggle. You didn't, you didn't struggle. Right, but in my mind, I'm like, damn, I ain't had math in a long time. So don't go up to seven times seven. Right, right. All right. I had to think about it too. I was like, I'm not going to go any further than, I was like, I'm going to get there. I got you. I got you. But that's the whole point. It's like, even if it's been a long time, you learned it so well that even when you go

[00:26:41] back to it, you still have the confidence. You could have stopped. You could have paused it. You could have been like, paused with him. Like, well, don't ask me that. And we could have edited it back in. You know what I mean? Like, but even, even, even in the difficult moment, you're able to stand firm because you've completed it. Right. And that's how you know if you really heal from something. If you, if you go back in that situation, did you really, did you really get through it? Did you really understand? Do you know, can you feel comfortable in an uncomfortable moment? Do you know yourself?

[00:27:11] Yeah. You learned yourself in that moment. So yeah, that's, that, that was, that's a really great example way to look at it. No, I like that. You know, sometimes what we do, we take one thing and then we do go down these rabbit holes. So if you first knew here, you'd be like, well, it just went from here, here. It's all going to connect at the end. It does. We don't know how it does, but it does. So come on, let's ride with us. This is a good creative. This is the creative process. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly.

[00:27:42] I know synergy. So let me ask you this. And this is just, I just came up your paintbrush. What does your paintbrush look like? It didn't start out with thrustles. Didn't start out with that. I was finger painting in the beginning. Cause I, I couldn't, I didn't know. I didn't know I could use a paintbrush in the beginning. Right. I was using my hands. My hands were getting messy and I had to wash my hands a lot. And then someone noticed me and helped me out.

[00:28:12] Yeah. And I asked for help and I got help and they would give me paintbrushes. And then once I get good at that, I might get other types of paintbrushes because I learned the first one first. Yeah. And so I kept growing. And then now I have a gallery or a plethora of paintbrushes now, but then sometimes I still go back with my finger because there was a certain comfort in that moment. So I do come back around, but it's a different quality of intention. Yeah.

[00:28:42] Right. Yeah. Thank you for taking that ride with me. That was a nice ride. Yeah. That was good. Yeah. Yeah. You didn't make me think about that. You almost got me in the first quarter. Like you almost got me in the first quarter. The second half, I'm good right now. So if, if you, if you all are wondering, why did I ask him about his paintbrush? He took it when he said about his finger, he took it all the way back to damn near birth. You understand what I'm saying?

[00:29:09] And so in each one of his examples of what he was painting with, whether it was fingers, his hands, the paintbrush, even the styles of paintbrush, that's to show that everything along the way, what he has connected as tools in life to help them to create what he wants for his life. I'm going to go back to where he talked about overpainting the different canvases instead of throwing them away and racing.

[00:29:37] These are the different layers and we can look at them as chapters and we can look at them as years of our life that we continue to grow and we continue to take. Some of them might repeat. Some might, might repeat for good and some might repeat for bad, but as long as you know what your creative stroke is, understanding what that is. And as you grow, it's going to change and it's going to get more stronger and it's going to be flowing to where you're going to be just flowing effortlessly. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:30:07] And I think I didn't plan on living my life this way, but once you learn your purpose, once you learn your creative flow, once you learn the impact of your creativity, the outlets are no more different than just an experience. Yeah. Right. The outlets become a part of who you are rather than a forced moment of experience. You, you, you, you become your outlets, you become your creativity. Yeah.

[00:30:37] And for me, joy has been, I know when I'm living my joy and I know when I'm happy and I know when I'm joyful and there's a huge difference. Yeah. Right. And, and, and I think that that's important to really recognize when you're living in joy and finding joy. Yeah. Yeah. I remember the other morning I woke up and I said, you are really living. You are really living in your joy.

[00:31:04] I looked at myself and I said, I am not lying to myself. You know, sometimes you can fake it. I said, no, like I literally have everything that I need to do exactly what it is that I am supposed to do in life. I am, I have so much abundance of everything around me. Even you are a part of my abundance. You understand what I'm saying? Yes.

[00:31:31] And when you truly sit in and you, you'd be like, oh, those conversations with different people, it changed and people will look at you like, hold on. That ain't the same. No, it's not. Right. So even when you tap in, when you go in and you want to be creative expression and you just starting new, my thing is have one of your attention is finding joy. Can I find joy in this? Can I find joy in this imperfection?

[00:32:01] Hmm. Yeah. I love that because if we're getting into the topic of joy itself, if you don't see yourself in this moment, you are not going to have joy. Yeah. And I'll be very, very open with you. I went to a recent event that acknowledged and honored me for my work.

[00:32:26] And it was a very happy event, but I was not joyful there. And I was not happy because they didn't respect my name. They didn't respect my bio, my work I've done. They couldn't even, I don't know who the person they were talking about. I was like, that's not me. And so I probably didn't feel seen. Right.

[00:32:52] So I was like, this is, this doesn't bring me joy because I don't feel seen. Like, and so I was like, there was a great event. Everybody's having a great time. But then I looked at my table, my VIP table, but all the people and they were looking at me and they were just like talking to me and reminding me like what I do, who I am. And it's like, they're just happy to be there with me. And then I had joy. I mean, reminding myself that, oh, it wasn't about this. It was about, I can celebrate with my people. Yeah.

[00:33:22] And then I became very joyful. I'm like, I brought these amazing people together because I see myself in them and they see me in them too. Yeah. Right. And so it was this moment of learning that joy is internal. Happiness is external. Yes. And we pursue our happiness, but we be still in our joy. We be still in our identity though. Yeah. Like who I am is to be celebrated. Yeah. Who I was, who I am, who I'm becoming is to be celebrated. Yeah. Right.

[00:33:49] And so I just appreciated you saying that, that really sparked that in me. Yeah. You know, thank you for saying that. And I just want to go here because you know, I'm gonna go in there, right? Celebrated and validated. I want you to understand that. So, and this is an, and please correct me if I'm wrong. In the beginning of that, when they were not saying the things that you did right, can I ask you this, that you feel like they wasn't validating you.

[00:34:20] But then when you looked around and you saw everyone that you chose to be in your inner circle, to celebrate you in that moment. And that is when you said, oh, it doesn't even matter about this outside. Oh yeah. I had a blast after that. This right here is where, you know, I know where my healing came in because I was able to choose the people that celebrate me genuinely. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. And I'm telling you, that's like when that happened, my brain snapped. I was like, oh, I'm not supposed to be here.

[00:34:50] I was like, well, let's go have fun. Let's get some drinks. Let's start dancing. Let's get some pictures real quick. I look great. I'm wearing a teal blazer. Let's go. Like, let's, let's work this out. And you know, it reminded me, I'm like, this is why I do what I do. Yeah. This is why I have so much joy. This is why I don't have late nights. I have, I have, I have awesome nights. Yeah. Right. Right. Because I realized, oh, I have my space. Yeah. I don't need, I don't need another space. Right.

[00:35:18] So that, that, that piece, that piece of knowing is real. Yeah. I love that. This had to happen. It had to happen because it had to go. It's a snap. Oh, it's over. It's over me. It put my back up again. I was like, oh, I was like, yeah, I'm about to record with Naomi. Let me, let me move on. Let me move on. I was like, let me just move on. Because I had to, I had to read. That was, that was sobering. Very emotionally sobering. Yeah. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing that.

[00:35:48] Thank you for sharing that with us. Because honestly, when people think that you are healed or you are going through, you're living in your healing is that you don't ever have a slip or a scoop back. But the beautiful thing is that, yes, you're going to have that. But the thing is, is that you can acknowledge, you can make it aware. And right then in that moment, you got the tools to like, oh, that's what that was. And keep it moving. Yes. Yes. Yeah.

[00:36:17] And I'm not going to be back next year. But so my thing, you know, I do it every year. I'm like, I don't, I don't need that. That was, that was a reminder. It was a reminder of your worth. And, and it made me also be more creative about how I want to be seen. Mm-hmm. Right. It's not, it's not a challenge. It's the opportunity for creativity to occur. Yes. So it just cycles. That's beautiful. I love that. You know, let me say this.

[00:36:45] I'm going to have to piggyback on you because just as you said that, I did this interview a couple of weeks ago and I was just so apprehensive about doing this interview. I figured I owed it to the industry on doing this interview. Mm-hmm. So I did this interview and I was telling them about, you know, about my self-love. This is my podcast, Self-Love.

[00:37:05] I think I told them I was 300 episodes in, you know, such a, such a, such a, such a, and for some reason, I don't know why I thought that this person was going to be, yes, you're doing it for the industry. This fool said, oh, so this is self-masturbation? Dr. Will, I promise you. No. No, you're lying. You are lying. No. No. No. Seriously.

[00:37:34] And I sat there and I said, that's what your ass get to myself. You know, because, you know, because I said, you were just talking about boundaries and you were just talking about looking and watching how people grow. Everybody is not going to celebrate or appreciate what you have. You understand what I'm saying?

[00:37:58] And so not that he did it and he could have done it intentionally, but that, but the thing is, it was like, you wasn't supposed to be there any damn way. Right. I wasn't supposed to be there. I knew I was supposed to be there. Yeah. Oh, I'm so mad at myself. Like you wasn't supposed to be there anyway. And then it was so funny because he said, um, somebody, I ain't going to say the person's name. Somebody said, Naomi doing an interview. Naomi don't do interview. See, they even knew that shitty.

[00:38:28] He was like, yeah, I got my own interview. You went back. You went back thinking you had a good intention. I did the same thing. I went back. I was like, you know, I never do events in Cleveland. I'm just going to, you know, enjoy. Now I'm going to give back. I'm going to show my face. Yeah. I don't do events. I don't. And so I was like, I know this is why I don't do this. I just spent money on a table. I was like, I could have, I could have bought a new couch for my therapy room with that money. I need a new couch.

[00:38:58] Cause I was like, see, it's not humbling. It's not so humbling. It is. It is. But it shows the growth. Cause I remember just laughing. Cause I probably would have got off the phone and then got back on the phone, called him and cussed him the hell out. But I didn't. I didn't. Because you already knew. You knew. You was just trying to, you are supposed to be in that space at some point in time, but not with that person. You're not. Exactly. Not with that person. Wrong dimension.

[00:39:28] Wrong dimension. Yes. Yes. And how much you might want that person to be that way. It is not, you know, and that was an eye opening for me. So when you said that, you, you kept talking, I was like, Oh, hold on. That just happened to me. Now we're mirroring our own experiences. I was like, I literally walked out like, damn, I could have, I could have recorded some podcasts. I could have, I could have fixed up some emails. I could have fixed up my website.

[00:39:58] The only thing that came out was I got my hair done. I got my hair. I was like, I was cute. I was cute and mad. I was just cute and mad. I was just out here. I was mad at myself. I was mad. I wasn't even mad at them. I was mad at myself. I knew better. Yeah. And that's what it is. You, you, you be upset with yourself. I just said, that's what you get. That's it. But I laughed about it because you know, you know, when you like standing out and I know listeners, I know y'all standing outside of yourself and looking like, girl, don't you do that. Oh boy, don't you do that.

[00:40:26] And you said, y'all know, I got this. I got this. Cause you be like, I got this. You be like, you be like. When everybody looked at me at that table, they all, they all can be like, they call me Dr. C. Washington Williams. I was like, who is that? I was like, you just said my name completely dyslexic. I don't understand how this happened. And I'm dyslexic. I don't even mess up that bad. So for me, I was like, everybody looked at me and everybody started, everyone on the table started laughing.

[00:40:57] Cause they all, cause they saw my face and they, cause you know, I'm very expressive. And then I looked across and then another therapist I know across the table on the, on another table across looked at me, like, I was like, I don't know. And everybody started laughing because everybody knows that I'm such a good sport about like just funny situations. But it was just funny how everybody just started laughing because they knew that like, like they don't, you're not supposed to be here. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:41:24] You know, on that note, let me say this because I always want to try to give a positive spin on something. I will hope that those platforms, that those different things that they can truly look at what their intentions are for doing what they're doing and, and understanding the respect and the boundaries of either if it's a guest or if it's an honoree that you bring and that

[00:41:46] you truly do take the time, that you truly do take the time to understand who you are having this relationship with at that time. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, you know, the grace in that, it was for me to understand that there's more work to be done for myself. There's less work I need to be doing with others. Yeah.

[00:42:16] And I have to stay the course of my mission. There we go. Right. And that's, and how I'm going to do that is my creative expression. Yes. Right. I made it this far because of creative expression. Right. And finding my joy through it. So. I love that. I love that. It's very, very sobering. Yeah. Yeah. And going beyond our limitations. I'll tell you that, that room was limiting. Yeah. Yeah. Going beyond our limitation. All right. My beautiful people.

[00:42:46] Well, look, if you all are ready to deepen your journey on self-expression and transformation, remember we got, we got something for you. We got the free download of the year, the Rebook Workbook. Actually, this is the last month for this version of this book. I don't know how long I'm going to keep it up because I might just take it down and might do a whole hard copy of it. Yeah. Do a whole hard copy of the first six months of it. But it's been amazing with, with this, with this Rebirth Workbook.

[00:43:15] Again, it has journaling prompts. It has a vision board template in it. Even a weekly creative tracker that you can, you know, kind of do. And remember we have the, the podcast connection. So if this, you know, episode resonate with you and you got some notes from it, write them down and share them with me. I would love to take a picture of it and upload it on PDFs or something like that. You know how to do it. Just do it. Give it to me. You know, give it to me. All right.

[00:43:44] So as we wrap up our first episode for our June series, I just want to remind you all that you all were born to create. Creativity isn't just a hobby, but it is a birthright. Dr. Will already took you from it, right? It's one of the most beautiful ways to express yourself through love and releasing your emotions and finding joy while doing it. Finding joy while doing it imperfectly in your unique way. In your unique way. Dr. Will, you got any last words? Yeah.

[00:44:14] Be kind to yourself and heal always. I know that's right. All right. We're beautiful people. Well, continue to do what it is that you do and that's living your best life. Have an amazing, amazing day. Have a good one. Thank you for joining us on this journey of discovering and empowerment here at the Season of Self-Love Podcast. Remember, embracing self-love is a continuous journey and we're so glad to have you with us.

[00:44:40] So if you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a review. And don't forget to join our community on Facebook at Season of Self-Love. Connect with like-minded individuals who are also on their self-love journey. Now, if you have any questions or topics that you'd like for us to explore, we'd love to hear from you. Email us at seasonofselflove at gmail.com and let your voice be heard. So until next time, take a moment for yourself today.

[00:45:09] And remember, you are worthy of love, joy, and all the beautiful things that life has to offer. Have a good one.