Rediscovering Creativity: A Conversation with Patrick Williams

What if your greatest creative potential isn't something you need to find, but something you simply need to remember? As a creativity expert, Patrick Williams joined me to reveal how we've all been born with incredible creative abilities that often get suppressed as we grow older.

The conversation offers surprisingly simple yet powerful practices anyone can implement: connecting with nature, practicing intentional breathing, keeping creativity journals, and experiencing different art forms monthly. These activities help break through creative blocks and spark innovation in unexpected ways. Patrick emphasizes that creativity extends far beyond traditional artistic pursuits—it's essential for relationships, professional growth, and navigating everyday challenges.

For educators, business professionals, and instructional designers feeling creatively stuck, this episode provides both philosophical insights and practical tools to transform your approach to innovation. You'll walk away understanding how to access your creative potential not just for specific projects, but as a way of experiencing your entire life.

Ready to reclaim your creative superpower? Listen now and discover how small shifts in perspective and daily habits can unlock extraordinary creative potential you never knew you had.

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📢 Call to Action: Patrick is available for private or group innovation and creativity consultations and programs. Please email him at patrick@patrickwilliams.com. He would be happy to answer any questions.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Patrick Williams
• 6:22 Creativity as Everyone's Superpower
• 12:45 Technology's Impact on Creativity
• 22:22 Nature and Breathing as Creativity Tools
• 29:22 Creative Collapse and Metamorphosis
• 38:56 Journaling and Creative Exploration
• 44:35 Experiencing Art to Spark Creativity

Transcript

Speaker 02: 0:01

Hello, and welcome to the Designing with Love podcast. I am your host, Jackie Pelegrin, where my goal is to bring you information, tips, and tricks as an instructional designer. Hello, instructional designers and educators. Welcome to episode 82 of the Designing with Love podcast. I'm thrilled to have Patrick Williams, who is a passionate and inspiring public speaker. He's also a consultant, writer, artist, independent scholar, and a visionary educator. So I'm thrilled to have him with me today. Patrick has over four decades of experience teaching and facilitating deep learning to a wide range of audiences. So I think that'll be really beneficial to all my listeners today. Also, Patrick is a TEDx speaker and an award-winning artist who's exhibited throughout the USA, Japan, and China, which is amazing. In addition, his art is in public and private collections, and he's been represented by galleries in Chicago, Seattle, Omaha, and Albuquerque. In addition, Patrick holds black belt and karate with decades of experience in training and teaching. And I just love that. And that's wonderful. So what I'm excited about, Patrick, is uh your creativity and your innovation. So welcome to today's episode.

Speaker 00: 1:15

I'm happy to be here, Jackie.

Speaker 02: 1:17

Great. Thank you. So to start, I gave you know quite a bit of your introduction, but can you uh just tell us a little bit about yourself, maybe something that I didn't mention, and what inspired you to help others in their creative pursuits?

Speaker 00: 1:29

Sure, I'd be glad to. I also do consulting as a creativity expert. And that's with uh educators, businesses, entrepreneurs, uh, and folks who are interested in restoring their creative awareness and and those abilities. I am I'm living back in my hometown, which is kind of new. Well, we've been here for a few years, but my wife and I moved back a few years ago from Boulder, Colorado. We miss the mountains, but it's uh definitely more affordable here in in the Midwest than it is up in the in the mountains.

Speaker 02: 2:09

Right, exactly. That's great. So you you love being back home and and having that uh being back in the mountains and surrounded by nature. That's beautiful. I love I love that too. I love going being in nature and being surrounded by that. There's nothing like it, right? Being in the mountains. I that's that's wonderful. Great. So um I noticed in your profile that you describe creativity as kind of a superpower that we all have, and I love that description. So even if we feel like we've lost touch with it, how do you like to explain creativity in a way that helps people see it as something anyone can tap into, not just artists?

Speaker 00: 2:45

Sure. The the the core of my philosophy is that we're all born creative. We we learn through play, imagination, and creativity. And so we have it within us. There it doesn't ever go away. We sort of misplace it or lose track of it, but it is always there. And we may we may we may not be specialized in parts of creativity that all of us identify as being obviously creative, like being a painter, a choreographer, a composer, an architect. All of those things are obviously creative, but all of us, because we we practically did nothing else but be creative when we're children. So up until the age of five, six, seven, we're we're just creative explosions happening all the time.

Speaker 02: 3:46

Right.

Speaker 00: 3:47

And we're as adults, even though some of us sort of move away from that, it's still inside. It can't go anywhere. So part about what I do is is help people restore that rather than rather than them finding it, because it's already there, they've already they already know what it is, they already know how they relate to creativity. So it's just a matter of assisting them, finding those those threads back to their tapestry of of creative energies.

Speaker 02: 4:20

Right. I love that. Because as as children, you know, we're we have that curiosity, we're asking questions, right? And then that that ends up uh fostering that creativity in us. And then as we become adults, we almost feel like, oh, you know, I I know what I need to know. But I it's always good to have that that curiosity, even as adults, right? And and you know, sometimes think like a child would think and say, okay, how would how would a young child approach this? And and I think that's that's the beauty of it, right? Like you said, we never lose it, it's always there and it's innate in us, uh, and being able to bring it out and and not suppress it, I think is always important because um yeah, we're we're finding now, especially with technology, right, that uh sometimes people can lose that uh they they they feel like they've lost it, even though they really haven't. And uh I think it's important that the technology not take over that creativity and that we maintain that integrity of it.

Speaker 00: 5:17

Absolutely. Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 02: 5:21

Right, right.

Speaker 00: 5:22

My my paint a a uh a paintbrush is a tool, just like a computer is a tool. And and if we keep that in perspective, then we're gonna be we're gonna be a lot better than thinking that it's smarter than us or can do things that we can't do. It can do things faster computers can, but but not not like we can.

Speaker 02: 5:47

Right, exactly. Uh I'm I'm wondering too, have you seen in the different creative fields like the arts and and the stuff and things like that, have you seen different technologies like AI? Because I I've seen I've read articles from actors and from artists that they're they're scared about uh what's gonna happen with AI as it gets better and better and that it's going to like clone them and all this stuff and uh you know, and and uh take over like the the work. And I'm like, well, I think as long as uh as we understand what its capabilities are, I think you know we can we can mitigate that. But have you seen kind of that that fear come about in people that you've worked with about the technology?

Speaker 00: 6:28

Oh for sure. Yeah. And I've read quite it's a it's a core interest of mine in in general, but also as it relates to the arts. And and that that's a that's a giant conversation, uh sort of a rabbit hole to go down with respect to the the limitations, the the mathematical limitations of of AI.

Speaker 01: 6:52

Right.

Speaker 00: 6:52

That the the people who talk about it are marketers, basically. If they're saying it's gonna cure every known disease or or uh solve every problem that humans have ever made, that's that's just marketing. They're selling a product.

Speaker 02: 7:10

Right.

Speaker 00: 7:11

There are things that AI can do really well, and there are a lot of things that AI can never do and don't do very well. So for me, I believe that the more and more I I'm aware of how people are attempting to infiltrate the arts with uh computer programming, the more that it it actually makes us as artists stronger because those of us who are fully in tune with always being ourselves rather than using that as a tool to make art, that's a benefit for us. So we we will have the stamp of authenticity, maybe maybe the human stamp of authenticity. Everything I'm doing is human-made, it's from me. And some galleries are actual actually having people sign sort of a it's not actually a non-disclosure, it's a it's a full disclosure statement that what they're making is only from their self, their their human beingness. So it's I think it's it's it's gonna cause a lot of trouble and a lot of disruption. There's a lot of stealing happening, basically. So uh just even a large language model, it's if it writes something, it's stealing all of those words and putting them together from other words that are out there. It's just the next the next best probable word is what the large language models do. And and uh more invasive is the the the visual images that are made, because they are truly steam stealing imagery from other artists and incorporating them into uh the image. So there's lots of there are there are a lot of uh famous anime artists that are really, really causing uh a lot of pushback because they see their work not changed that much in images that people are using as AI generated. So the pushback is happening and and we will it it a lot of people were talking about the the death of painting in the 1850s, sixties, and seventies because of photography. But you know, a hundred plus years later, painting is still alive and strong.

Speaker 02: 9:50

So right, yeah. I think that's important to note because you know, sometimes with technology we think, oh, we're we're it's generating something, but you're right, it's it's searching what's out there and then it's generating it based on something that's already out there. Same thing with with writing too. So always good to be aware of that and know what what it's what it's capable of and what its limitations are and how we can put those cardrails around it and and use it in an ethical format. So that's something I teach my students every day. Use it, yes, but use it ethically. Don't don't expect it to do your work for you or um or things like that. And make sure you cite it if you're using it before you cite it. So that's important. Yeah, I love that. That's great that you mentioned that. So we mentioned talk talked a little bit about earlier about how those different tools, right? Like a paintbrush and a computer and things like that. So many of my listeners are in education business or even instructional design. So sometimes to into in those fields, creativity feels like a tool we have to use rather than something we naturally have, uh, which I hear a lot. So, what's one or two simple things you think people can do to reconnect with their creativity and keep it flowing in their everyday work in life?

Speaker 00: 11:40

Sure. The number one one, well, maybe not the number one, but I I feel like it's important now, especially in the having just talked about uh programs and screens and and that world, is to get outside and sit. Preferably in in nature, and that's a that's a uh a fuzzy term. You know, being in a city, it's a little more challenging to be in nature, but a park, you know, a little patch of green with some trees, that's nature. Get out, take a walk, sit, sit on the grass, take your shoes and socks off, put your feet in the ground, on the ground and do some uh balancing, uh grounding, it's called. Uh and and simply breathe and allow yourself to notice what's around you. Notice the grass, notice the trees, what kind of birds are you hearing? You know, are there any other things happening? Are there squirrels or whatever it might be? Just notice how nature is all around you and how creative nature is. It's it's just again, like a child, it it it's just exploding with creativity. So it's it's a it's both it relaxes you and it rebalances you and it will invite you to start to be aware of those inner places that are creative. It gives you a moment to contemplate the things that you may have just been working on. Whether you're stuck or not, if you're stuck, that's one thing. If you're not stuck, going out to nature is gonna help also. But it's gonna be a place where you can interconnect feelings and ideas in a more relaxed way than at your desk or in the meeting or you know, in the studio or wherever you might be and whatever you might be doing, it helps you reconnect to a slower but also a more vibrant environment that has a tremendous amount of creativity zooming around you. Even though it may be quiet, there's still a lot of creative energy that is that is present. So nature is a is a huge, a huge part of it. And breathing. Just take some time, even even when you're at your desk and things are a little bit crazy, just push away from the desk, sit up straight, take ten breaths, just tell yourself to relax and just take a moment and then move back into what you were doing. You're gonna move back into it with a bit more relaxation, a bit more openness, and and that's where the creative qualities start to come in from that when our when we're not so busy in our in our minds we're able to be more open to new ideas, new wherever they came from. They're they come from everywhere. And we just have to be we have to allow ourselves and invite ourselves and give ourselves permission to receive, to receive a connection between these ideas that we've had with this project, whatever the project might be. But there's all these ideas zooming around in our mind, zooming around on paper. We have a whole bunch of books around us that we're looking through. Take a moment, step back, and let a lot of those ideas swirl around and see where they land. They may a couple of them may land together over next to a a rock, and that rock may be in the shape of something that will spark something and then go from there. But it's allowing ourselves to to be open is super, super important for everybody, all of us, to gain access to that that core creativity that we have inside of us.

Speaker 02: 15:59

I love that. Wow. Yeah, the those two connections, nature and breathing, are so important. That's something I I like to do too. Uh, and especially if you're feeling overwhelmed and stressed, the breathing really helps. It helps, like you said, you know, kind of relieve that, get you grounded again. And um, and maybe if you're stuck on something, then it can help kind of you know break that block that you're having. So that's great. Yeah, and that kind of goes into, you know, part of the next question I was going to ask about the, you know, if we're stuck or um or we want to be able to get that creative block kind of out of the way. So you've developed some really interesting terms like creative collapse and creative metamorphosis, which I love those, those types of terms. So um, could you kind of talk a little bit about what those two terms mean um and kind of how they help us to get unstuck when we have something where we're having that creative block um with us or just trying to come up with new ideas that are that that are at the forefront.

Speaker 00: 17:00

For sure. Before creative collapse is something that I've described as creative colonization, which all of us have moved through and experienced in our younger lives. And it happens out in the world, it happens at home, but sadly a lot of it happens within the school systems that we existed in as children. And so creative collapse is is or creative colonization is how children experience a sort of invasion into their inner space of play, creativity, and imagination. So the way the school systems are set up is is a heavy academic aspect and less play aspect to to put it in in simple terms. So there's there's a lot of academics going on with children and there's less and less play happening with children. And sad, sadly, the the administration of education has been moved away from people who actually know how children learn. So it it it almost has become more of a an MBA sort of viewpoint of how to how to produce these these children who are quote unquote good at learning. And and those folks, they have no you know, blessings to them, but they don't they don't know and they don't understand how how we as human beings learn. And we learn through play, imagination, and creativity. So in ideally in situations uh before kindergarten and for sure the first four or five years of of elementary school, a huge part of the day should be playing. And what people don't understand is that when children play, that is when they're absorbing all of these lessons. They're figuring out how to communicate with each other, they're figuring out internally what math concepts are and how to use them in an actual real life environment for them as children. How how that it relates to children very differently than it relates to adults for sure. Their play looks different than adults' play does. When often when adults look at children playing, they think that they're just messing around. And in some respect they are, but they are learning. That is how that is how we learn as human beings. So creative colonization is the process of that those three elements, play, create creativity and imagination, being pushed out. Just as a colonizing force comes into an indigenous area and takes over the language, it takes over the customs, it takes over the spiritual beliefs, it takes over what people do as a regular what they would do in a regular day. They put them in a factory rather than allow them to do what they were usually doing, whatever that may have been before they were colonized. So it's a it's an intense term, but I chose it because it's it's it's a very invasive thing that happens to us as children, and we don't understand it, what's going on. Why I I just want to go out and play. So there's a colonization that happens, and at some point during the colonization, the creative colonization, creative collapse happens. That's when it could be a specific incident, the that the teacher told me something, or my my aunt told me something, or my my grandfather told me something, or somebody out in the neighborhood told me something about how I sang or how I played the violin or how I was drawing, whatever it might be, and that just stops the child in its tracks, his or her tracks, and they don't do that creative activity anymore. They stop drawing, they stop uh dancing, they stop playing music, they stop singing, they stop playing with blocks, whatever it might be, that's creative collapse. And sadly it it often happens to last a year, two years, ten years, or people's whole lives. But that doesn't mean that it can't you can't find that creative metamorphosis, which is the the act of a person saying, Oh, you know what, when I was when I was eight, I was starting to write poetry. I think I might try that again and starting to write poetry and that that might lead them actually to making pottery because poetry led them back into their creativity, but then they saw a pottery class and they were, I want to do that. So entering the entering our creative awarenesses when we were children doesn't mean doesn't necessarily mean oh, I'm gonna make paintings or I'm gonna play the flute or whatever it might be. It that might be the impetus to get back into their creativity, but it might lead someplace else. So and that's what we need to be open to. Creative creative metamorphosis is is always open-ended. We but we need to follow what our hearts are are interested in. If your heart is interested in making clay pots, awesome, that's great. Follow that.

Speaker 02: 23:06

I love that. Wow, that's great. That reminds me, you mentioned playing the flute. I used to play the flute when I was in grade school, and it's funny because I I wanted to just go out and play. So I I I did different things like you know, trying out tap dancing and ballet and some things I wasn't as good at. So I was like, uh, I'll I'll uh but I did the flute for a while and I've been thinking about that the last several years. Maybe I should get back into it because I do remember the way my music teacher taught me. Now I don't remember the notes, I'd have to relearn the notes, but I remember how to hold the flute. I remember how to blow and you know, how to do that and how to put the it comes in three parts. I remember, I remember so well how she taught us how to uh she just started with the first part and then added on the next, and then we learned the the keys and the notes, and then you know, she put on the last part. So uh so we she went in steps and taught us that way. So yeah, I love that. Yeah. And then in high school I took I took uh pottery class and so I got to do that. And so I agree. It's I think it's something that you know the arts needs to it, it shouldn't be pushed off to the side, it should be something that should be uh encouraged, right? And totally. Um yeah, absolutely. I love that. And when I when I was a kid, yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 00: 24:23

I wanna I want to emphasize that even though we're talking about the arts, which are super important, and it's it's a way that people can get back into their creativity. But it's my my worldview of creativity isn't only about the arts, it's about how we engage our lives. We we can bring and we need to, we should bring creativity to our relationships. Whoever that might be in your your world, how can I make this relationship better? What can I do? What are some something special that I can do that will help blossom this relationship? Creativity enters into our workspace. You you are you're in many levels of creative uh necessity with the podcast, but also teaching. Those require similar but very different qualities of your creative energy. Of how how do I explain this to my students better than I may have done in the past? What are the things that if that I can think of that are gonna help them with this this particular coursework? Or in the podcast, how do I make the podcast better? That that's an ever-changing, always evolving process of of equipment or or recordings or or the the intro, whatever it might be, there's always little things to to apply your creativity to. So I emphasize with folks that we can see how we are creative in the arts. That's that's an that's a that's a no-brainer, right? Right in our life, it's it gets a little trickier to to notice how we're creative. Take take a different way to work, drive a different route. Just it might take a little bit longer, but that will spark, you'll notice something. It's like, oh wow, I want to go to that store or or that's a I never knew that there was a park there and it has a waterfall or whatever it might be. And you can go sit by the waterfall and that may give you some new ideas. So I love that. Doing these things in our life that uh shift us will bring new creative qualities into our life. It will help us with our business, it will help us with our relationship, it will help us with every every aspect of our of our lives.

Speaker 02: 26:58

Wow, I love that. And I I like how you bring up the relationships part too, because you know, the key to a successful marriage or successful relationship with someone else is to be able to keep that creative spark going, right? And do new things together and discover you know, so those things that maybe you didn't do together before, or discover your interests that you each have, or maybe something that, oh, you know what, I never really thought of something we could do here, or you know, and travel to new places. Uh, I think it's wonderful. And and then that way you can, yeah, you can discover those things that you may have not known about that other person, right? That's like, wow, that's amazing. And then you you get to, you know, explore that together. And that just that brings you closer and um and brings your relationship to a whole new level with that. So I love that. That's great. I always like to even do like creative things uh with my with my partner. He's serving uh right now overseas, but when he comes back, uh I actually am putting together like a really nice dinner for him and uh and I'm uh I'm planning the menu. I'm utilizing a little bit of AI just to kind of see what I can do. But I already have an idea of that, and it's kind of giving me some creative ways that I can present the menu and kind of print it out and here, maybe you can use some of these colors that are kind of a little bit subtle and you can do like a little recording of your voice and maybe a digital card that you can tuck under the menu uh under the menu or under the plate or something like that. And I'm like, oh wow, this is great. So it's kind of sparking that creativity of like, oh, what can I do to um you know surprise them a little bit? So that those are kind of neat. Yeah. So it's and then it's kind of helping to spark that of um how can I, you know, really make it special? Yeah. So that's that's great. I love that.

Speaker 00: 28:46

Great to hear.

Speaker 02: 28:47

Yeah, that's that's wonderful. I love that how you're you're taking it beyond just what we naturally think of, but in all areas of our life. Yeah, even driving a different route. I love that. Those little small adjustments that we can make too. Yeah, it makes a huge difference. Wow. That's great. I love that. So as we wrap up, what advice would you give to listeners who are interested in starting a creative project, maybe writing a book like I'm doing right now, or something else they've been dreaming about, but they're not sure how to take the first step?

Speaker 00: 29:16

Sure. One of the main things that I always talk to people about is journaling. And in in two levels, and in people may feel overwhelmed having two journals, but I think it's important. So if one, if if if you if there's only one journal that you can do, having a personal journal is super, super great. On top of that, if you want to start exploring your creative uh possibilities, restoring your creativity, you can do that in your in your personal journal for sure. But having a separate creative journal where you go through all of the idea. If you're just starting, it's a place for you to reflect on how you were creative when you were a child. List all the things that you did either after school on Saturday and Sunday, or through summer and winter vacations. Whatever it might be. It doesn't matter what the what the list is like, everything you can imagine of how you played, what your imagination was like, what what did you spend time with? thinking up in your in your mind and write it down and reflect on it. After you get a list, let's say you you did play with blocks as as an example. Well, what did you build when you played with blocks? Did you do it just by yourself or did you do it with friends? Did and did the blocks then evolve into Legos and and and then building things outside? What how did the how how were what were the feelings like? What were you thinking about? And that's going to lead you into places about creativity that would be unnoticed if you weren't spending some time sitting and just thinking about it. And and people are very busy even even five minutes in the morning. Or five minutes at some point during your day when you just have a little bit of time, pull out your creativity journal. Make make something special about the cover of it. J paste something on, glue something onto it or just draw or whatever it might be, just so it's it has a little different vibe. And then jot things down for five minutes. And then you know maybe a month later you might think, you know what, I need to spend just a little I'm gonna double that. I'm gonna spend ten minutes on my creativity journal because I'm having a lot of new ideas and I'm seeing some things that I hadn't seen before. I'm having more insights and then jot those down. And have it with you. You know there's lots of journals that are just tiny yeah yeah yeah you can stick in a pocket and a purse and whatever.

Speaker 02: 32:19

Right. Yeah keep it on keep with you. Yeah.

Speaker 00: 32:22

And just have it to jot things down. But also also notice notice as you're starting even it's just a personal journal start to to really tune into what you're feeling, what you're thinking about, what where your mind goes when you daydream daydreams are super super important. They tell us all kinds of amazing information. We're not we're not wasting time when we're daydreaming. We're we're actually getting information. Why or why was I thinking about that? Or why did that just pop into my mind? That is useful information somehow. We don't know how we don't know what it's going to do but it's gonna do it's gonna do something. So a journal is a place to jot all of those things down. It it's it's a external memory so to speak which is I think it's super useful for for folks. I have my my journal here with me. It's it's always around always ready for jotting.

Speaker 02: 33:27

Jotting those I I love that and I love being able to have two separate journals the creativity journal and the personal journal because the personal journal can be something where you're writing down your your different thoughts right overall and then the creativity journal is is more specific for that. Maybe even like just uh you know if you see something like you said and you can even like draw it out or chart it out or something like that. So yeah so it doesn't have to be a certain way it just whatever makes it sense makes sense for you is what totally what yeah what really helps.

Speaker 00: 34:01

You could have a podcast journal.

Speaker 02: 34:03

Yes I love that yeah and just kind of get those audio little notes you you can have it right there off to the side and just jot a few things down as it's happening in real time.

Speaker 00: 34:17

Because for me sometimes if I don't write it down I it's gone. So and I have I literally have thousands of these little pieces of paper that I have not everywhere in my studio. So it's I love that it's uh always useful to to jot little ideas down draw draw a little something to help you remember whatever however it might be yeah especially in that moment as you're having that because you're right you can uh because like you said earlier we're so busy and if we think of something and then we go to do something else that might just be in the abyss and just be gone and then we're trying to think what was that that I was thinking of earlier and then all of a sudden we're like oh no what I don't remember.

Speaker 02: 35:05

Yeah or we only may remember a little piece of it and then most of it's gone. So and that that's kind of a tragedy you know that that can happen. Yeah exactly I love that.

Speaker 00: 35:16

My wife my wife and I have uh we have D in the evening we call it drinks and dialogue so we get together and we talk about our day and what what we did you know any things that you know my wife Rebecca did things I did and and and chat and we have a D journal that we keep when ideas come up we jot them down and and that has been super useful.

Speaker 02: 35:44

Oh wow that's great so you you it's a shared journal then that you can both jot things down uh together I like that and that keeps that goes back to the relationships and and keeping the relationship strong and um being able to share those ideas. So not only are you talking through it but you're able to write it down and keep it in a place where you can go back to it. So I love that totally yeah so it's not just in the moment but it's something you can go back to and say oh you know what we talked about this two weeks ago and we jotted it down and now let's let's uh maybe we can pursue that and act on it. Yeah oh I love that that's great.

Speaker 00: 36:22

Yeah we had our we had our 25th wedding anniversary two days ago.

Speaker 02: 36:25

Oh congratulations I love that yeah that's great. So you were able to draw upon some of those past conversations and writings to to plan your 25th anniversary right? Oh we did we did a little a few things yeah for sure yeah oh wow that's neat and it so it brings it to fruition so it's not just an idea but it actually becomes something that uh that you it's a lived experience right so exactly yeah wow I love that great anything else you can think of that you think would be really good for for people as they're kind of trying to recapture that um yeah I I would say well one of the things I I have uh teams do and and this is just good good for all of us is to pick to pick an event for either yourself or your your partner whoever it might be your family whatever of a different type of art event to go to once a month.

Speaker 00: 37:30

So let's say you you think of okay let's go to an art gallery or a museum this month and then next month go to some kind of music whatever it might be and maybe pick something that you know if you're not interested in jazz maybe pick jazz and see what that's like because it's gonna it's gonna do all kinds of new things for you if if you're not if you're not new used to it. Then the then the week after that maybe maybe go to a dance uh a recital. Uh maybe a music recital after that. Maybe go to go downtown and look at five buildings that are that are noted that are special buildings in whatever town that you live in. And you know small towns may have less but sometimes small towns have some pretty remarkable buildings. But look at the buildings notice what what kind of stone are they made out of? What kind of windows do they have? What how what shape are they? What do they look like inside? How is it laid out does it make sense? Is it weird? Is it confusing? Is it confining? Is it open? Whatever it might be a church may be part of that those buildings. Experience and and then compare well that how did the municipal building or the courthouse there are some things that were just like the church everything will will spark you in different ways. So and maybe go to a poetry slam or a poetry reading the next month. So be inventive get yourself to get yourself to be in in unusual or or things you like that that's okay too. Right. Situations where you're able to experience something together you and you can do it solo if if that's if that's what you want to do. But doing it with with a group doing it with your partner that's fine. But just be in some place new and just uh that it pushes your comfort a little bit. Right. So not not something outrageously uh scary or or disturbing or or uh uh not very much fun. Sometimes that's useful. But but just to be outside of your your usual choice of of what you would do. Maybe go to go see a classic movie or a a film that is somewhat inaccessible to to Netflix or or HBO or or whatever that is that you've heard about and oh it's playing downtown at the at the the the indie theater is Citizen Kane you know just comes to mind. It's a Orson Wells film. It's sometimes rated the greatest film ever made. Go see that and see it's like what do they mean it was the greatest film ever made? I didn't like it at all. Or you may love it or you may love parts of it and there there's so many things that can assist in in if it's simply you and your partner you you know like the conversation earlier you're gonna find out things about the other that you had no idea. It's like oh you love that Citizen Kane movie. Why did you love it? Or so having these art experiences just gets us into the energy of how the artist is thinking and feeling and and what their life is like and and how that can inspire us. I get inspired from musicians and from dancers and from theater and from architecture and and all c you know all levels of music. So it is it's necessary to have those interactions that spark each of us in different ways. We don't know how that it's going to spark us but it will certainly spark you. Oh I love that I encourage people to get out and and just experience some some new adventures.

Speaker 02: 41:49

Right exactly yeah and even in the workplace you know as you mentioned with your teams you can do those things too. We do that uh with with my department because we work remotely most of the time um after COVID happened we all got sent home and like a lot of companies but we're we're work we work from home full time now but we do have uh conferences every quarter and so we actually have one coming up tomorrow where we go to the campus and we meet together and we do breakouts and so our uh our work groups will get together and our team is going to be getting together for an hour. And so I've done this in the past because I have a whole set of games board actual board games and stuff like that, card games and everything. And it's so neat Patrick because I used to play um well I still play games but as a kid as a child my my uh friends and I would play and I would play play with my family too and I still we still play games we get together and we play games and I think that's so important to take something that you used to do like you said in childhood and do that. So tomorrow during our our team breakout uh my manager said who wants to plan uh for our for our team breakout um what do we want and I so I asked the question and I said so is there something specific that we want to discuss like work related or do we want to make it fun and just you know get to know each other. So I said if you want to make it fun I can bring a couple of games so I've got um one that plays eight and it's called uh blank slate so what you do is you have uh you have these little they look like little slates and you have you give each person a pen and it can play up to eight and then you have these cards and you pull out the card and it has like for example um like uh like blank potato and then you can write in the word that like it could be mashed potato sweet potato whatever it is and come up with a word and if you have and you score points um if no one else gets that you want to try to actually think of what someone else would come up with but not to the point where everybody comes up with the same word. So it's very interesting. So if someone else if one other person comes up with the mashed potato then you each get three points. If uh more than two people come up with the same word then you get one point. So the key is yeah so it's like hmm I want to think of something that maybe my friend will think of but or my coworker will think of so it's pretty neat. So that's a fun game. Yeah so I'll bring that and then there's another one called um it's called uh uh snatching pairs so it's a it's a memory game so we remember memory as a kid right um and this takes it to uh so kids and adults can play this I don't that's what I like about cooperative type of games like this or just friendly competition games but it's basically you have um and it's got puns so it's it's all uh pair related so the fruit the pair fruit um but it's pair so P A I R but pair and pair so it's kind of cute but um yeah you see you flip over the two cards and in the middle they have these little uh squishy pairs and if you get um and the cards are they they have sets of colors that are the same. So if you get the same color but the but the pair doesn't match then you actually you touch one of the pairs and you say uh matching color and you have to be the first one and you get a point with that. So uh but it it actually helps with your creativity because you have to remember you have to have good memory and you have to have good creativity and think about it and go, okay, that was the same color but not the same pair. So you have to try to remember where where it was so it's pretty yeah so I'm I'm looking forward to kind of you know exploring that playing games together and stuff like that with my team because you really get to um you know just and it doesn't it it doesn't have to be work related it can just be fun and and that helps it and that helps the work relation. Right. Exactly yeah it helps the work relationship so that's great. I love that. So yeah well thank you so much Patrick for sharing your insights today your experiences your tips and your expertise are sure to inspire my listeners and help spark more of that creativity in their life. So I appreciate it.

Speaker 00: 46:00

Excellent I was happy to happy to do that.

Speaker 02: 46:03

Great. Well thank you so much I look forward to having you back on the show sometime and we can talk more about you know uh your consulting business I'd love to hear more about that and how you help uh individuals how you help teams and uh that would be great because I think we could all use a little bit more of that creative spark in our in our world for sure. So I'd be happy to Jackie great well thank you so much appreciate it. Thank you for taking some time to listen to this podcast episode today. Your support means the world to me. If you'd like to help keep the podcast going you can share it with a friend or colleague leave a heartfelt review or offer a monetary contribution. Every act of support big or small makes a difference and I'm truly thankful for you.