Day 17- Are You Playing Small When There's a Giant in Your Bones?

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"Are you playing small when there's a giant in your bones?" - In-Q

Welcome to DAY SEVENTEEN of our new 30-day COMMUNITY PROJECT where we make something with our hands every day in order to improve our mental health. We all realize that creativity heals...it's time to put that knowledge into action.

These episodes will exist here, marked with the days numbered, in order for you to follow along at any speed that you like. Miss a day? Doesn't matter. Just pick up right where you left off and keep making things. These episodes will give us all some accountability, but if you need more, pair up with a partner. It really does help!

Join our creative community by making something today, whether it's for five minutes or several hours—your brain will thank you. Let's do this thing together and turn all of this sh*t into something beautiful!

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Episode Transcript

LeAnna (00:00):
Defining myself is like confining myself.
So I undefine myself to findmyself.
They say a goldfish will onlyget as big as its bowl.
But when you put it in a tankthe space can change the way it
grows.
It needs to have the room, orits potential doesn't show.
So its environment's essentialfor unleashing the unknown.

(00:23):
I ponder if it knows that itcould grow beyond the bowl, that
it could have a pond the sizeof an Olympic swimming pool,
that the world is so much largerthan the boundaries that it's
known.
Somehow I empathize with thislittle golden soul because I too
have unexplored and unexpressedgoals that were suppressed by

(00:46):
an environment I couldn'tcontrol.
Am I still playing smallbecause it's all I've ever known
, when there's a giant in mybones that I'm not sure I've
ever shown?
I ask myself this question whenI'm purposely alone, when my
body grows to take up all therooms inside my home, I expand

(01:07):
in all directions, every singleinch consumed.
I'm a billion feet tall now myhead over the moon.
This is just a portion of In-Q'spoem called Goldfish, and I
found this in the book yourBrain on Art how the Arts
Transform Us, and it was in thechapter called Flourishing".

Fun Fact (01:30):
In-Q's name is Adam and he is one of my best friends
from LA's ex-boyfriend.
He's like a deaf poetry jam guyand he does spoken word and

(01:51):
back in the day we used to go tothe poetry lounge I think it's
called Da poetry lounge in LAand we would go watch him
perform and his friends and thiswas before Deaf Poetry Jam even
became like a known thing on TVand it was so cool.
But you should really check outhis poetry if you like this.

(02:12):
His lyrics to his spoken wordstuff they're amazing.
But the way he reads it is sogood and I feel like I'm
murdering his poetry right now,especially with this voice.
That is still not back, but Ihad to read that.
It's so perfect for thischapter on flourishing and
talking about flourishing,because right now, getting to a

(02:36):
point of flourishing, that's thegoal.
I'm beginning to see the light,finally after working on this.
You know, just sifting throughthese things that I was allowing
myself to take in the news, thesocial media, you name it
really just shutting stuff downand getting it out of my daily
life has changed things so muchthat I can begin to see it as

(03:01):
okay.
I want to start flourishing,not just surviving, not just
getting out of this mindset, butlooking towards something
bigger and better.
So the authors of your Brain onArt, susan and Ivy.
They explain that flourishingis about living an authentic and
full life.

(03:22):
It's about feeling present andfeeling alive by noticing and
appreciating what you alreadyhave around you.
It's about being in touch withyourself Many people refer to
that as mindfulness in order tolive with this sense of purpose
and meaning, a moral compass anda sense of virtue.

(03:43):
So flourishing includes caringabout the welfare of others,
contributing to the greater good, and when you are flourishing,
they say, you are curious, youare creative, you are open to
new experiences and there is aconscious commitment to
fostering a positive mindset.

(04:04):
You're nurturing your mental,physical and social health and
you're appreciating the timethat you have on this earth.
There is an epidemiologist whosename is Tyler VanWheel that
they write about.
He's the head of HarvardUniversity's Human Flourishing
Program at Harvard and in 2017,he developed this base

(04:26):
measurement of flourishing,built on five metrics.
Number one metric is happinessand life satisfaction.
Number two is mental andphysical health.
Number three meaning andpurpose.
Number four, character andvirtue.
And number five close socialrelationships.

(04:49):
When I think of when thepandemic came and all of this,
you know, uprising politicallyand throughout the world.
I look at those five metricsand I think of how many of those
were shut down.
For me at least, it was areally traumatic time for a lot
of people and I hate using theword trauma because it's

(05:11):
overused, but it truly, trulywas, and I do believe that a lot
of us are still trying to clawour way out of that.
There are some people who haveescaped being brought into a
dark place from it all.
I have not escaped it.
I did not escape it, and Ithink that focusing on something

(05:35):
like flourishing and reallychecking in and paying attention
how am I doing on these fivemetrics?
Happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health,
meaning and purpose, characterand virtue and close social
relationships how are those alldoing?
I can tell you they're not allfunctioning at their top for me

(06:00):
right now.
I'm working on it, but At thesame time, this is a lifelong
thing.
This is a lifelong quest.
It's not something that you'rejust gonna get to a great level
and then leave it.
It's like brushing your teethevery morning.
Gotta wake up and do it again.
What are the things that thesestudies have taught us that
contribute to flourishing.

(06:21):
They say awe, curiosity,novelty and surprise.
Those help to contribute toflourishing.
How can we seek out thosestates and bring that into our
daily lives?
There's one particular part inthis chapter where the man at
Harvard, tyler he, alreadydetermined he has some

(06:45):
evidence-based ways to trainyour brain to flourish, and one
is creative writing.
So here's an exercise for today, and this is coming straight
from Harvard.
This is a creative writingexercise.
What you want to write about isyou sit down and you imagine
your best future self and thenwrite about your life as if it's

(07:10):
already happened.
The studies that Tyler has donehave shown that a simple little
habit such as this increasesyour optimism and life
satisfaction.
Flourishing is a kind of amuscle and it gets stronger when
it's used and, as with anythingpracticed, it becomes a habit.

(07:31):
If you keep doing it likecoming back to the yoga mat or a
running routine, like choosinga healthy diet, like
understanding how much sleep youneed each night you will begin
to see patterns that foster andsupport a flourishing life.
To see patterns that foster andsupport a flourishing life.
Then this chapter goes on toexplore six foundational

(07:54):
attributes of flourishing.
They include curiosity andwonder, awe, enriched
environments, creativity,rituals, novelty and surprise.
Go out and imagine your bestfuture.
Write about it as if it'salready happened.
You're in that life, you'velived it, feel it and then keep

(08:15):
your eyes and ears and all yoursenses peeled for anything that
can lead you down the pathtowards flourishing and keeping
yourself flourishing.
And until next time, staycurious.