May 5, 2025 • 37 mins
In Episode 10 of The UnBound Creative, Valerie and Mak celebrate their milestone by diving into a quietly radical idea: delight as a wayfinder.
We live in a world that values hustle, productivity, and achievement, and yet, so many of us feel lost or disconnected. What if the missing piece isn’t more effort, but more delight?
In this deeply reflective and joy-sparking conversation, you’ll learn:
- Why delight is not frivolous, but one of your most powerful creative tools
- The difference between false and true delight (and how to tell which one you’re following)
- How small glimmers of joy can be clues to your next big move
- Why “figuring it out” is less effective than being open, present, and attuned
- How to start noticing (and trusting) what lights you up, even in the smallest ways
If you’ve been waiting for permission to soften, pause, and listen to what’s truly calling you, this is it.
Thanks for listening to The UnBound Creative!
If today’s episode resonated with you, share it with a friend or leave us a review, it helps more creatives discover the show.
💌 Connect with us on Instagram:
@valeriemckeehan & @thatmakguy (that’s Mak with a K!)
Keep creating bravely. We’re so glad you’re here.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mak (00:05):
is it customary to celebrate in some way for your
10th episode?
Valerie (00:09):
why not?
We're gonna celebrate all of itI mean for you.
Mak (00:13):
This is like I don't know how many episodes over 50 has it
been over 50 I definitely thinkit's been over 50, but for you
and me it's 10, but anyway, it'sall.
Valerie (00:23):
One big one, great big podcast yeah, and thank you for
being here.
This is the unbound creativepodcast for our 10th episode.
I am valerie mckeon I am macand we are excited to be here
talking about the things thatfire us up, which is mainly
talking about creativity andcreatives helping you get out of
(00:47):
any perceived or real box thatyou have put yourself in.
We just believe that everybodyhas magic and we want to see you
unlock it.
Mak (00:57):
And even if you're feeling like you know what is this life,
it's on repeat.
I'm feeling like, okay, there'ssomething else out there, but
I'm not sure what it is.
It's probably could be fixedwith being creative, even if
you've never considered yourselfto be a creative person.
Even having a new thought aboutsomething is creative.
(01:18):
It doesn't mean you have to bean artist.
It doesn't mean you have to bea singer, a dancer or any of the
things we traditionallyconsider creative.
We firmly believe everybody iscreative and we want everyone to
live into that creativity in anunbound way, and that's what
we're here to do.
Valerie (01:33):
You have an instinct within you that is one of your
absolute greatest superpowers,and not only a superpower, it is
a wayfinder.
So if you are feeling lost, ifyou're feeling stuck, we change
(01:55):
as human beings.
We go through different phases,we go through different times
of life.
I feel like we are all in themiddle of something, because you
might be waiting for adifferent change state of life
to come in and you just are kindof like feeling in that
(02:15):
in-between spot, you maybe havelost yourself a little bit and
there is an instinct that isalready within you that is going
to be your greatest wayfinderthrough those pivots, through
that middle, even when you can'tkind of see and you're like,
have I lost myself?
Who am I?
What do I, what do I even likeanymore?
(02:37):
And that instinct is delight,delight and delight, I think,
gets kind of shoved aside of thelist of things to do or
accomplish.
We're all about productivityright in our culture and it's
like I have to do this and Ihave to do this, and we have to
(02:58):
cross the things off the list.
Am I getting it done?
But delight is like very, very,very, very, very bottom of the
list.
Since when have you ever put ona to-do list?
I need to seek out delight formyself.
Today.
That's just not something thatwe do, and yet delight is a
superpower.
Mak (03:18):
And when was the last time you remember saying to yourself
you know what that's delightful,I'm delighted.
It's not even really a wordthat we use a whole lot each and
every day, or even in a week,because I don't think it's at
the top of our mind and what weend up doing is we hustle and we
(03:39):
do all the things that we'retold we should do because the
end result will be delight.
Yeah, but the truth is, andeven the most successful people
in the world, who have gottenwhere we all think we want to be
, when they get there they go.
(04:00):
You know what?
I'm still in the middle.
Oh, there's something else, Igotta, I gotta do something else
.
I, there's something else.
I got to do something else.
I got to create something else.
Even the wealthiest people inthe world who have had all the
success Look at Richard Branson.
He's been all over the newslately to do anything else and
he's still building.
He's still searching for thingsbeyond probably what he even
(04:33):
thought he was capable of doingwhen he was I don't know how old
20, 30 years old.
Valerie (04:37):
You know who that reminds me of?
It's very unrelated, but kindof Jim Carrey.
Because, I've heard him saybefore I wish everybody could be
rich and famous to find outthat it's not the thing.
And what an interesting guy.
He's an artist now.
He's like a philosopher andvery deep and really very rooted
(05:00):
in his creativity.
But that wasn't.
That wasn't the answer.
Mak (05:03):
And another great example of that is Shaq.
Like I keep reading about thisguy.
He has 355 businesses spreadthroughout the entire United
States.
He owns like 150 car washes.
He owns a bunch of AuntieAnne's, he owns a ton of Five
Guys franchises and a bunch ofbusinesses a ton of five guys
(05:30):
franchises and a bunch ofbusinesses and he at the height
of his career the peak was notmaking as much money and doing
what he's doing as he is now andhe's one of the greatest
basketball players of all time.
And look, look where it has ledhim.
He now enjoys being anentrepreneur and owning all
these businesses and doing allthis stuff.
So it just goes to show youthat I don't ever really think
(05:52):
you get there.
The delight is in the journey.
Valerie (05:54):
But I think what we do is we say things like when I get
to this point, I'm going tofeel all of the delight.
And we're kind of conditionedthis way in our culture as well,
where we're told you workreally, really, really, really
hard all year so that you canget one week of vacation.
(06:14):
That's sort of in our heads,this idea that you have to earn
delight.
And how dare you just go outand feel delighted for no good
reason?
And the other thing is wealmost put it on a pedestal even
like in order to feel delighted, I have to be on vacation or I
(06:37):
have to have a day at the spa orsome massive thing.
But why can't we bring back orrecognize these tiny bits of
delight?
And it seems cliche sometimesto say but what about just that
lick of an ice cream cone andthat first taste of a strawberry
(06:58):
and all of these things.
We've lost our sense of delightas a culture.
Mak (07:03):
Well, I was going to say, even on a more micro scale, even
all the best gurus who say,okay, make a to-do list, here's
how you get through your day.
You do the toughest things,first the things you don't want
to do and then the things thatyou want to.
You know that will help youmove whatever your project is
forward or whatever.
And if you get through thesefive items, then you're allowed
(07:27):
to treat yourself with aStarbucks, and even that is
saying I've got to do thishustle that I don't want, but
once I do it, because I'm notgoing to like these things, this
isn't going to be fun.
Then I get to reward myselfwith a coffee drink.
That in and of itself is amicrocosm of the problem,
(07:52):
because even the hard things wedo, we can find delight in them,
rather than it being a hustleand reward, hustle and reward,
hustle and reward system.
Valerie (08:05):
You know, I think that this just brings up kind of an
overarching concept that we areobsessed with do.
Everything is do do.
What do I have to do?
And especially if you'refeeling lost or you're feeling
stuck or you're not sure of yournext move and I think in this
(08:27):
episode we're really talking toyou that if you're in the middle
, first of all recognizing thatthere really is no arrival point
, because just the nature of ourlives means that we're going to
change.
And all of these people whohave been wildly successful, as
we just said, they go throughtimes of pivoting and change and
we all do it and it's fine.
(08:49):
But for those who feel that wayand you feel lost or your brain
is a little bit spinny and notsure, I'm not sure of my next
move I think the inclination andthe instinct is what do I have
to do?
And we say that abouteverything, anything we want to
start.
(09:09):
Or the other thing we say is Ihave to figure it out.
That's a big one, as if all ofthe answers are up in your brain
and I have to figure it out andthink my way out of a hole, and
so it's all about the doing andthe thinking harder, but we
(09:30):
de-emphasize a lot of the beingand just who we are being and
more of a softer approach of anallowing, allowing ourselves to
be delighted, to be in thosestates of curiosity and wonder.
(09:51):
It's almost like a forcing kindof an energy versus a what if I
stop and just be content and bein the present moment, because
in the present moment there'salways points of delight to be
(10:14):
found.
Mak (10:14):
Well, and I think that's the point, and I think that's a
really good illustration of theto-do list thing where you're,
when you're doing, when you'reknocking out these things on
your to-do list to get to thecoffee or the cookie break or
whatever it is you're going tohave, you're not actually living
in the moment of that thing.
You're thinking about what I'mgoing to get next, and that's a
trap that people get caught in,that totally shut off delight.
(10:37):
It totally shuts down the brainand all of your senses from
being able to experience delight, because if you're not present,
you will never experience it.
The times that we feel trulydelighted when you're at a movie
that you like, or you're reallywrapped up in a really great
book, or you're taking a walkand you smell the honeysuckle,
(10:57):
or you're at a concert and youget lost in the song.
That's delightful and you'represent in that moment.
But if you were thinking aboutall the things you have to do
tomorrow, you wouldn't beexperiencing the delight right
now.
Valerie (11:13):
And I think we breeze past those things.
Mak (11:16):
Yes.
Valerie (11:16):
Because we think it's not important or we think, oh,
that's silly or frivolous.
But it really building a lifefilled with delight isn't really
in the big moments that come,it's in this collection of just
these tiny moments that we areable to experience by being in
(11:42):
the present moment.
And when we can collect thesemoments of delight, they're
going to be arrows, that'sglimmers.
I've heard like the opposite ofa trigger is a glimmer and
these little glimmers that justlight us up and make us feel and
(12:03):
feel something, and it'sinteresting.
So this is something that I'vealways thought is a little more
nuanced than this, becausesometimes we confuse our delight
for staying comfortable andmaybe almost numbing behaviors
(12:27):
or something like that.
And that's not what we'retalking about, because I think
that some people will say, ohwell, it would delight me just
to.
I'm thinking of, like, thecynics view of this concept and
it would be oh well, it wouldjust delight me to sit there and
watch Netflix all day and bingeon Oreos, but I can't do that.
(12:49):
That's not good for me.
I can hear that as a cynicalresponse, but that's not what
we're talking about.
It's not these comforts orthese almost the dopamine hits
or something that your brainneeds, but it's actually not
great for you.
We're talking about that deepsense of delight that leads to
(13:13):
wonder, it leads to curiosity,it leads to that elevated
version of you that is the soulyou and the part of you that
becomes open-hearted and able tomove from that place.
Mak (13:33):
A false delight is a real thing and I just made that up.
I'm not saying that likeexperts have used that term, but
false delight anything.
So you're not creating delightif you're avoiding something and
I think that's what a lot of ustend to do it's something
overwhelming happens, maybe havea bit of anxiety.
So what we do is we shut downand we watch Netflix.
(13:54):
It might even be a reallyuplifting show, but that's
avoidance and you can go to thegym to avoid something.
Like you could be doingsomething really good for
yourself.
You could go play golf, youcould, I don't know.
But if you are doing somethingto avoid the feeling of anxiety
(14:17):
or overwork or you know, thenthat's not true delight and I
think that that can creep up onyou and and you have to be very
careful about that to understandexactly what Val is saying is
true delight it's like you know,it's when your hair stands up
(14:39):
and you start to light up andyou go.
My goodness, I'm overflowingwith ideas and in the moment you
just want to start sharing yourheart with people and things
like that, like it's a truesense of of joy and wonder and I
feel like when I'm at myhighest point of delight.
(14:59):
I just want to.
I just want to.
I just want to share it with asmany people as I can.
I'm going to bring as manypeople as I can in around me and
help, and just try to help themfeel delight and feel happy.
I've never felt that waywatching Netflix or going to the
gym or doing things that wetend to use as numbing.
(15:23):
It would be like saying, ohyeah, I feel delightful after
two beers.
It's like no, that's a blanket.
Valerie (15:31):
Right beers, it's like no, you're, that's, that's,
that's a blanket right.
Well, I think the point is thatthat delight, this inner part
of us that that lights up inthat way, it really hits on
almost a state of childlikewonder.
I think it's that part of youwho is still you and you never
lose that part, but I think itjust gets buried under a lot of
(15:53):
crap.
That part it whispers inadulthood because, again,
delight is at the very, very,very bottom of the list and
maybe we have our numbingdevices or the things that we
get for dopamine hits likescrolling on social media.
I don't know if anybody wouldsay that that is delightful to
(16:15):
them, but we use these things tomake us quote unquote feel good
.
But they're really not.
But, like you said, the senseof delight is something deep
inside of you that just, italmost aches, it's like an
aching feeling, but it's becauseit hits something true and it
(16:38):
hits something that you love andI think that that type of
delight is whispering, it's notshouting.
It's really easy to put thattype of delight or looking for
it or seeking it, way, way, way,way, way, way, way, way, way
down on the list, because all ofthe other things, the to-do
(16:59):
list and the strategy, and Ihave to think myself out of this
.
All of that is very loud, it'svery shouty.
Mak (17:06):
Well, I think what you're really illustrating here is the
difference between what I'mcalling a false delight and what
true delight is.
Is the false delight the thingsthat we try to do to create it?
It's all up in the head, buttrue delight you feel in the
heart.
It is this, it is this radiantthing, that that that moves you,
(17:33):
and I think a lot of us areeven afraid to feel that because
it's a vulnerable feeling, andso when those whispers come,
we're quick to dismiss it, or wetry to hide it or put it away
it, or we try to hide it or putit away.
(17:54):
Just the other day I can'tremember what it was that I was
listening to, but it was really.
It was really strange.
I think maybe we were talkingabout Mr Holland's opus on the
on our group coaching call thispast week, and I haven't thought
about that movie in forever.
But.
But we were getting in a littlebit of a deep discussion.
I was using it as a metaphorfor something and I started to
(18:14):
get teary eyed.
That was delightful, it touchedsomething deep within me and
typically I would be like oh no,don't let anyone see that I'm
starting to get teary eyed, butinstead I, I was, and and what I
did in that moment is I reallysat in it and I enjoyed that
moment.
And then I said to myself okay,what did that touch within me
(18:37):
that made me feel this way?
I need to explore that.
What about this emotion touchedme to the point that, bringing
me spontaneously to tears?
And how do I get in touch withthat?
How do I what?
There's something there andwe're so quick to dismiss those
feelings or even write them offas, oh, I'm just being emotional
(19:01):
or oh, this is a, but no, thoseare the moments, those are the
feelings that you have toembrace.
It's like when I listened to asong and it makes it and I get
you know goosebumps you have toembrace.
It's like when I listen to asong and I get goosebumps, I try
to go okay, why, what'shappening here that this is
getting me goosebumps?
Valerie (19:21):
What is the feeling?
Because that's such adelightful moment.
It's so much in the noticing ofthat.
And isn't it interesting how wedo we are so quick to ignore or
write off the idea that whatfeels good, what brings us that
delight, could be our truestguide.
(19:42):
That there is some nugget therethat it's touching on.
We ignore that, because if itfeels delightful, it just feels
easy.
Or again, we have all of thisit's frivolous, oh yeah, that
it's silly, I don't know.
I just I just love flowers orwhatever, and it's almost easy
(20:03):
to ignore the fact that thatcould be some of the best clues
that we possibly have to ournext steps.
To our magic, to the delight ofthat, leaning into that a
little bit more can changeeverything in the best way.
(20:24):
And so this also brings me to apoint of somebody's magic,
their inherent magic, that webelieve everybody, every human
being, has that you have it thatkernel inside that is just your
truth and light and delight andcreativity unlocks those parts
(20:59):
of us and freedom.
I want to put that in there.
Mak (21:02):
Yeah, because when you can truly express who you are, then
nothing else matters.
And that is true freedom.
Valerie (21:09):
And delight is kind of like a key to that part.
Why do we write it off?
It's like holds the skeletonkey.
Mak (21:19):
It's a flashlight in the dark pointing on something, but
I think that we write it offbecause so many of us think that
it's frivolous.
A it might be like oh, that'ssuper childish, I can't pay
attention to that, I have to bea grownup.
Valerie (21:40):
Or we're just dysregulated from life that we
don't even notice.
Mak (21:44):
Or B, c.
Oh, is this C?
I can't even remember now.
Valerie (21:49):
I think it's B.
Mak (21:51):
We're being like Buzz in Home Alone.
Now I'm like, maybe I thinkit's b I'm being.
We're being like buzz and homealone.
Um b I'm gonna say it's b the.
We're not allowed to feel good.
Right, we tell ourselves youknow that felt really good for
15 seconds, but now I have to goback to feeling like crap
because I'm meant to go throughlife feeling like garbage.
(22:11):
Life is not meant to be enjoyed.
Life is meant to put your headdown and work and hustle to earn
your seven days or your 15minutes of kind of fake
happiness and then go back towork again happiness and then go
back to work again.
Valerie (22:32):
Right, it is this messaging of well, being an
adult is hard and life is hardand there's all this stuff
that's hard and we need tosuffer, and it is.
It's very counter and it'salmost rebellious to say I'm
going to seek a life that itjust delights me.
(22:53):
Uh, our friend wendy wendyharrop.
She said I am not available foranything that does not delight
me.
She says that all the time.
That's her phrase and you knowI am not available and that is
is like controversial counter.
Mak (23:09):
do you know how many people that would piss off?
I know that would be like ohscrew her.
Valerie (23:15):
What are you talking about?
Yeah, you can't.
Mak (23:17):
That's not.
Yeah, okay, okay, yeah, I'm notavailable for anything.
What a jerk she is, but it'slike maybe you're the jerk,
because why, why can't?
Why can't someone live a lifethat's purely delightful, which
sounds right?
Valerie (23:35):
If, especially, and because we know this to be true,
delight is the skeleton key.
Delight holds the.
I don't know why I just hadthis vision of Candyland going
through my head.
It's like delight is the pathwe follow, these little bits of
delight like the colors on acandy land board, because that
(23:57):
is touching on the truest partsof us well, here's okay, this is
great.
Mak (24:02):
I love the candy land analogy.
It's the light on the path, butdo you know what else it is?
It's flipping over the icecream card.
So you might see the light onthe path, but when you lock into
your delight, you skipeverything and you go right.
You go right to the sweet spot,the best spot on the board.
You're poised to win, you'repoised to have everything that
(24:24):
you want.
The path is now illuminated andyou can see the end of the
tunnel when you are living inthat, when you are living in
full delight, and the people wholive in full delight are the
ones who are doing amazingthings.
You don't think?
Richard Branson?
We'll refer back to him.
He hasn't set up a life that hejust loves.
(24:44):
He absolutely has.
He talks about it in interviews, he's written books about it.
Other people have interviewedhim, have talked about it.
He literally loves his life andhe's created a life that he can
just live in fully,delightfully, and just doing
what he wants when he wants,because he's fully let up.
And he didn't get there becausehe hustled um in the
(25:08):
traditional sense.
He followed what let him.
Valerie (25:12):
Well, we think that we don't deserve it.
Mak (25:15):
Yeah.
Valerie (25:15):
Until I will deserve it , when, or we feel like it's,
again it goes back to I have todo, I have to earn, I have to
prove, I have to suffer hardenough so that I am worthy or
deserve having this delight, andI actually said it wrong.
So Wendy says I am onlyavailable for what's what
(25:37):
delights me.
I love it, similar thought, butit's just.
That is like you said, how wemove forward, how we get farther
on the path.
Because I think that the thingis, the more we look for it, the
more we say things like thatand own that and seek out those
(25:57):
points of delight.
I think we realize those thingsare seeking you, you know, it's
not a.
Let me think hard enough andfigure this out and strategize
it.
Mak (26:12):
You can't figure it out.
Valerie (26:13):
You can't figure it out .
You can't figure it out.
It's in a posture of allowingand softness and surrender.
And I think when we get to thatplace and then we start to say
I'm only available for whatdelights me, you're going to
start to see it finds you.
Mak (26:32):
And one of the biggest blockers to this concept is the
idea that so many people andthis could be you.
So if this makes you feel alittle uncomfortable, I might be
talking to you right now If youhold yourself back from feeling
delight because other people inthe world aren't, because other
(26:54):
people in the world have itbadly or have it poorly or are
suffering through something, sotherefore you have to suffer
with them.
But the truth here is thatdelight is abundant, delight is
joy, and when you are livingdelightfully and when you are
(27:22):
living delightfully, joyfully,full of life, that is actually
something that spreads and itcontinues.
If you are an example, okay,we're using Richard Branson, but
how many people like we couldliterally sit here and list
hundreds of people who live inpure delight, who we all would
love to be like them, who livein pure delight, who we all
would love to be like them.
So that creates an aspirationalvibe that other people go.
(27:44):
Well, if this person can livelike that, I can live like that.
But the idea that you have tosuffer because somebody else is
suffering is actually control.
You are trying to control tocontrol.
Valerie (27:59):
You know you saying that that's a big truth bomb,
because we can all look out andsee a ton of suffering.
We can look at it in our owncircles.
There is suffering.
Of course we can look at it ona world scale and see just
massive amounts of suffering.
And this is not about nothaving empathy.
Of course we are human beings,we are a collective of the human
(28:26):
race and nobody wants to seethat suffering.
Of course we have empathy forwhat's happening.
But to think that we aresomehow doing something good by
holding ourselves back fromfeeling delayed, because if we
think, well, all of this stuffis happening, I need to stay in
(28:50):
a place of suffering and keepmyself down in that way, that is
a shrinkage of your life force,the thing that could propel you
forward, like you said, mac,and make change and create.
(29:11):
It's like create energy versusshrinkage energy.
And isn't it interesting, okay,just saying the words, notice
even in your body and like wherethis lands when you think about
and hear delight, which is thepath to all of our fun, creative
(29:38):
friends, which are wonder,curiosity, playfulness joy.
Think about those things andjust let that land in your body
and I might just venture to saydoes it feel open, does it feel
open hearted, does it feelalmost like a relaxing in your
(30:02):
shoulders and it feels expanded.
Versus what, if we saysuffering, fear hardship,
struggle, poor, suffering, fearhardship struggle, poor when we
think that the naturalinclination there's a tightening
(30:23):
, it's a tightening, it's a,it's a contraction, it is a
closed off.
So it goes to show that thatposture is not a creating,
bringing forth life posture.
Mak (30:43):
I think a great example of this is almost every movie ever
written, and we have obviouslygreat examples just in real life
too.
But what makes a great storyarc just in real life too?
But what makes a great storyarc?
You have someone who is downand out.
They have trouble in their life, something isn't going right.
(31:06):
Then they have the moment wherethey hit rock bottom and they
realize who they really are.
And then they have thisovercoming this, coming to life
journey, and we always root forthat character.
They discover who they reallyare and then boom they.
They explode into positivityand joy and they build a really
(31:28):
successful business, or theybecome the character they're the
hero or the heroine in themovie and we all clap and go
along with it.
In America especially, we lovethe comeback story.
We're big on the comeback story.
We're big on the rags to richestale, why?
Because we look at that andwhen we see, oh my goodness,
(31:48):
this person was living in thisway and then the light bulb went
off and now they're being atrue representation of who they
really are and they're spreadingjoy and happiness and delight
and success and all of the greatthings we root for, that we
relate to that and we go thatcould be me.
We see ourselves in that personand then we close the book or
(32:11):
stop watching the movie and wego back to being the person who
that person was at the beginningof the film and we're all
supportive of this.
But what if the main characterwas like yeah, this, uh, I'm in
a bad place, but so are allthese other people, so I'm just
going to stay in a bad place.
We would hate that movie.
We, that was not.
(32:32):
That would not get off theground.
Like, what is the point of this?
And and how would that helpanybody?
else it wouldn't, and that waswhere I was going is your story
of living fully into yourselfand into your creativity.
Following those whispers andthen acting on them seems scary
because it's vulnerable.
But when you overcome thediscomfort, when you become
(32:58):
comfortable with beinguncomfortable and you start to
live out who you really are andyou start to feel, these
delightful things and thisjoyful stuff come into your life
all of a sudden it becomes amagnet and you begin resonating
at a higher frequency and all ofa sudden you become the
aspirational story and that willactually inspire other people
(33:18):
to do the same.
Yeah, will there always bedetractors?
There will be people who don'tlike you because you're
successful.
That's jealousy.
You don't have room or time forthat and we don't want to be
stuck in this place foreverbecause we're afraid to listen
to the whispers or we're afraidto feel delight.
(33:38):
We were made to be here.
Life is supposed to be goodpeople.
Life is supposed to feel goodand you can choose right now, in
this moment, to live a life ofdelight or keep living in a way
that isn't delightful, and youcan say you guys are crazy.
No, life's too hard, can'thappen.
(34:01):
But there are countlessexamples of people from all
walks of life who started withnothing and or started with the
world, but they weren't happy.
It's the other way too.
Valerie (34:15):
There's people who are really successful.
The circumstance doesn't matter, is the point Exactly, it's
right.
Mak (34:19):
It's like you can live in.
I'm just trying to talk to someof the detractors out there,
and if this conversation ismaking you uncomfortable, then
that's probably good.
This might be like hey, let'sexamine the delight in your life
.
Valerie (34:31):
Right.
It is a worthy wayfinder tofollow those points of delight,
and your entire circumstancedoesn't have to change.
Your situation doesn't have tochange we are literally talking
about being open first of all,open to experiencing that and
noticing those smallest.
(34:52):
And noticing those smallest,tiniest glimmers, the little
points of delight that you mighteasily just brush aside or
think, oh, that's no big deal orthat's something that I see
every day.
But being open to that delightis only going to bring more
delight and as you do that, yourlife force.
(35:14):
It opens you expand.
Delight is an expander of thebest parts of you and the parts
of you that might be buriedunder all of this stuff.
That is a wonderful first step.
Just to be open, I wonder what'sgoing to delight me today.
(35:36):
And then expect, expect to findthat you living.
That way, I can guarantee youyou are going to have more of an
impact.
You are going to affect peoplein a much better way from your
expandedness, from your openness, versus your smallness and your
tightness.
So let's look for delight andexpect it and there's nothing
(36:03):
that you have to do.
Isn't that great?
Something that isn't like allof these to-do lists, it's just
let's notice.
Mak (36:10):
You can have it right now, literally the tiniest thing, in
fact.
Look around you right now,whatever you're doing, and look
for one small thing to bedelighted by right now, in this
moment.
You can find something if youlook for it, something that will
make you smile, something thatyou appreciate, something that
smells good, tastes good, feelsgood, looks good is beautiful.
(36:31):
Tastes good, feels good, looksgood Is beautiful.
What is something right now, inyour personal space, that you
can take 30 seconds and feeldelight over?
Valerie (36:42):
Thank you so much for listening.
Again, this is the UnboundCreative Podcast.
We just love having theseconversations.
We're excited to have more, andif you enjoyed this podcast, if
you found this to be helpful,we would love it.
If you would subscribe, if youwould take a minute to leave a
review.
That means the world.
(37:02):
It helps others who need thispodcast find it, and we would
love to hear from you too.
So drop us a line if thispodcast resonated with you.
Tell us your little bit ofdelight that you're finding, and
we just hope that you see moreand more and more and find your
way back to yourself.
(37:23):
Thank you so much for beinghere.
We'll see you next time.
Take care.
is it customary to celebrate in some way for your
10th episode?
Valerie (00:09):
why not?
We're gonna celebrate all of itI mean for you.
Mak (00:13):
This is like I don't know how many episodes over 50 has it
been over 50 I definitely thinkit's been over 50, but for you
and me it's 10, but anyway, it'sall.
Valerie (00:23):
One big one, great big podcast yeah, and thank you for
being here.
This is the unbound creativepodcast for our 10th episode.
I am valerie mckeon I am macand we are excited to be here
talking about the things thatfire us up, which is mainly
talking about creativity andcreatives helping you get out of
(00:47):
any perceived or real box thatyou have put yourself in.
We just believe that everybodyhas magic and we want to see you
unlock it.
Mak (00:57):
And even if you're feeling like you know what is this life,
it's on repeat.
I'm feeling like, okay, there'ssomething else out there, but
I'm not sure what it is.
It's probably could be fixedwith being creative, even if
you've never considered yourselfto be a creative person.
Even having a new thought aboutsomething is creative.
(01:18):
It doesn't mean you have to bean artist.
It doesn't mean you have to bea singer, a dancer or any of the
things we traditionallyconsider creative.
We firmly believe everybody iscreative and we want everyone to
live into that creativity in anunbound way, and that's what
we're here to do.
Valerie (01:33):
You have an instinct within you that is one of your
absolute greatest superpowers,and not only a superpower, it is
a wayfinder.
So if you are feeling lost, ifyou're feeling stuck, we change
(01:55):
as human beings.
We go through different phases,we go through different times
of life.
I feel like we are all in themiddle of something, because you
might be waiting for adifferent change state of life
to come in and you just are kindof like feeling in that
(02:15):
in-between spot, you maybe havelost yourself a little bit and
there is an instinct that isalready within you that is going
to be your greatest wayfinderthrough those pivots, through
that middle, even when you can'tkind of see and you're like,
have I lost myself?
Who am I?
What do I, what do I even likeanymore?
(02:37):
And that instinct is delight,delight and delight, I think,
gets kind of shoved aside of thelist of things to do or
accomplish.
We're all about productivityright in our culture and it's
like I have to do this and Ihave to do this, and we have to
(02:58):
cross the things off the list.
Am I getting it done?
But delight is like very, very,very, very, very bottom of the
list.
Since when have you ever put ona to-do list?
I need to seek out delight formyself.
Today.
That's just not something thatwe do, and yet delight is a
superpower.
Mak (03:18):
And when was the last time you remember saying to yourself
you know what that's delightful,I'm delighted.
It's not even really a wordthat we use a whole lot each and
every day, or even in a week,because I don't think it's at
the top of our mind and what weend up doing is we hustle and we
(03:39):
do all the things that we'retold we should do because the
end result will be delight.
Yeah, but the truth is, andeven the most successful people
in the world, who have gottenwhere we all think we want to be
, when they get there they go.
(04:00):
You know what?
I'm still in the middle.
Oh, there's something else, Igotta, I gotta do something else
.
I, there's something else.
I got to do something else.
I got to create something else.
Even the wealthiest people inthe world who have had all the
success Look at Richard Branson.
He's been all over the newslately to do anything else and
he's still building.
He's still searching for thingsbeyond probably what he even
(04:33):
thought he was capable of doingwhen he was I don't know how old
20, 30 years old.
Valerie (04:37):
You know who that reminds me of?
It's very unrelated, but kindof Jim Carrey.
Because, I've heard him saybefore I wish everybody could be
rich and famous to find outthat it's not the thing.
And what an interesting guy.
He's an artist now.
He's like a philosopher andvery deep and really very rooted
(05:00):
in his creativity.
But that wasn't.
That wasn't the answer.
Mak (05:03):
And another great example of that is Shaq.
Like I keep reading about thisguy.
He has 355 businesses spreadthroughout the entire United
States.
He owns like 150 car washes.
He owns a bunch of AuntieAnne's, he owns a ton of Five
Guys franchises and a bunch ofbusinesses a ton of five guys
(05:30):
franchises and a bunch ofbusinesses and he at the height
of his career the peak was notmaking as much money and doing
what he's doing as he is now andhe's one of the greatest
basketball players of all time.
And look, look where it has ledhim.
He now enjoys being anentrepreneur and owning all
these businesses and doing allthis stuff.
So it just goes to show youthat I don't ever really think
(05:52):
you get there.
The delight is in the journey.
Valerie (05:54):
But I think what we do is we say things like when I get
to this point, I'm going tofeel all of the delight.
And we're kind of conditionedthis way in our culture as well,
where we're told you workreally, really, really, really
hard all year so that you canget one week of vacation.
(06:14):
That's sort of in our heads,this idea that you have to earn
delight.
And how dare you just go outand feel delighted for no good
reason?
And the other thing is wealmost put it on a pedestal even
like in order to feel delighted, I have to be on vacation or I
(06:37):
have to have a day at the spa orsome massive thing.
But why can't we bring back orrecognize these tiny bits of
delight?
And it seems cliche sometimesto say but what about just that
lick of an ice cream cone andthat first taste of a strawberry
(06:58):
and all of these things.
We've lost our sense of delightas a culture.
Mak (07:03):
Well, I was going to say, even on a more micro scale, even
all the best gurus who say,okay, make a to-do list, here's
how you get through your day.
You do the toughest things,first the things you don't want
to do and then the things thatyou want to.
You know that will help youmove whatever your project is
forward or whatever.
And if you get through thesefive items, then you're allowed
(07:27):
to treat yourself with aStarbucks, and even that is
saying I've got to do thishustle that I don't want, but
once I do it, because I'm notgoing to like these things, this
isn't going to be fun.
Then I get to reward myselfwith a coffee drink.
That in and of itself is amicrocosm of the problem,
(07:52):
because even the hard things wedo, we can find delight in them,
rather than it being a hustleand reward, hustle and reward,
hustle and reward system.
Valerie (08:05):
You know, I think that this just brings up kind of an
overarching concept that we areobsessed with do.
Everything is do do.
What do I have to do?
And especially if you'refeeling lost or you're feeling
stuck or you're not sure of yournext move and I think in this
(08:27):
episode we're really talking toyou that if you're in the middle
, first of all recognizing thatthere really is no arrival point
, because just the nature of ourlives means that we're going to
change.
And all of these people whohave been wildly successful, as
we just said, they go throughtimes of pivoting and change and
we all do it and it's fine.
(08:49):
But for those who feel that wayand you feel lost or your brain
is a little bit spinny and notsure, I'm not sure of my next
move I think the inclination andthe instinct is what do I have
to do?
And we say that abouteverything, anything we want to
start.
(09:09):
Or the other thing we say is Ihave to figure it out.
That's a big one, as if all ofthe answers are up in your brain
and I have to figure it out andthink my way out of a hole, and
so it's all about the doing andthe thinking harder, but we
(09:30):
de-emphasize a lot of the beingand just who we are being and
more of a softer approach of anallowing, allowing ourselves to
be delighted, to be in thosestates of curiosity and wonder.
(09:51):
It's almost like a forcing kindof an energy versus a what if I
stop and just be content and bein the present moment, because
in the present moment there'salways points of delight to be
(10:14):
found.
Mak (10:14):
Well, and I think that's the point, and I think that's a
really good illustration of theto-do list thing where you're,
when you're doing, when you'reknocking out these things on
your to-do list to get to thecoffee or the cookie break or
whatever it is you're going tohave, you're not actually living
in the moment of that thing.
You're thinking about what I'mgoing to get next, and that's a
trap that people get caught in,that totally shut off delight.
(10:37):
It totally shuts down the brainand all of your senses from
being able to experience delight, because if you're not present,
you will never experience it.
The times that we feel trulydelighted when you're at a movie
that you like, or you're reallywrapped up in a really great
book, or you're taking a walkand you smell the honeysuckle,
(10:57):
or you're at a concert and youget lost in the song.
That's delightful and you'represent in that moment.
But if you were thinking aboutall the things you have to do
tomorrow, you wouldn't beexperiencing the delight right
now.
Valerie (11:13):
And I think we breeze past those things.
Mak (11:16):
Yes.
Valerie (11:16):
Because we think it's not important or we think, oh,
that's silly or frivolous.
But it really building a lifefilled with delight isn't really
in the big moments that come,it's in this collection of just
these tiny moments that we areable to experience by being in
(11:42):
the present moment.
And when we can collect thesemoments of delight, they're
going to be arrows, that'sglimmers.
I've heard like the opposite ofa trigger is a glimmer and
these little glimmers that justlight us up and make us feel and
(12:03):
feel something, and it'sinteresting.
So this is something that I'vealways thought is a little more
nuanced than this, becausesometimes we confuse our delight
for staying comfortable andmaybe almost numbing behaviors
(12:27):
or something like that.
And that's not what we'retalking about, because I think
that some people will say, ohwell, it would delight me just
to.
I'm thinking of, like, thecynics view of this concept and
it would be oh well, it wouldjust delight me to sit there and
watch Netflix all day and bingeon Oreos, but I can't do that.
(12:49):
That's not good for me.
I can hear that as a cynicalresponse, but that's not what
we're talking about.
It's not these comforts orthese almost the dopamine hits
or something that your brainneeds, but it's actually not
great for you.
We're talking about that deepsense of delight that leads to
(13:13):
wonder, it leads to curiosity,it leads to that elevated
version of you that is the soulyou and the part of you that
becomes open-hearted and able tomove from that place.
Mak (13:33):
A false delight is a real thing and I just made that up.
I'm not saying that likeexperts have used that term, but
false delight anything.
So you're not creating delightif you're avoiding something and
I think that's what a lot of ustend to do it's something
overwhelming happens, maybe havea bit of anxiety.
So what we do is we shut downand we watch Netflix.
(13:54):
It might even be a reallyuplifting show, but that's
avoidance and you can go to thegym to avoid something.
Like you could be doingsomething really good for
yourself.
You could go play golf, youcould, I don't know.
But if you are doing somethingto avoid the feeling of anxiety
(14:17):
or overwork or you know, thenthat's not true delight and I
think that that can creep up onyou and and you have to be very
careful about that to understandexactly what Val is saying is
true delight it's like you know,it's when your hair stands up
(14:39):
and you start to light up andyou go.
My goodness, I'm overflowingwith ideas and in the moment you
just want to start sharing yourheart with people and things
like that, like it's a truesense of of joy and wonder and I
feel like when I'm at myhighest point of delight.
(14:59):
I just want to.
I just want to.
I just want to share it with asmany people as I can.
I'm going to bring as manypeople as I can in around me and
help, and just try to help themfeel delight and feel happy.
I've never felt that waywatching Netflix or going to the
gym or doing things that wetend to use as numbing.
(15:23):
It would be like saying, ohyeah, I feel delightful after
two beers.
It's like no, that's a blanket.
Valerie (15:31):
Right beers, it's like no, you're, that's, that's,
that's a blanket right.
Well, I think the point is thatthat delight, this inner part
of us that that lights up inthat way, it really hits on
almost a state of childlikewonder.
I think it's that part of youwho is still you and you never
lose that part, but I think itjust gets buried under a lot of
(15:53):
crap.
That part it whispers inadulthood because, again,
delight is at the very, very,very bottom of the list and
maybe we have our numbingdevices or the things that we
get for dopamine hits likescrolling on social media.
I don't know if anybody wouldsay that that is delightful to
(16:15):
them, but we use these things tomake us quote unquote feel good
.
But they're really not.
But, like you said, the senseof delight is something deep
inside of you that just, italmost aches, it's like an
aching feeling, but it's becauseit hits something true and it
(16:38):
hits something that you love andI think that that type of
delight is whispering, it's notshouting.
It's really easy to put thattype of delight or looking for
it or seeking it, way, way, way,way, way, way, way, way, way
down on the list, because all ofthe other things, the to-do
(16:59):
list and the strategy, and Ihave to think myself out of this
.
All of that is very loud, it'svery shouty.
Mak (17:06):
Well, I think what you're really illustrating here is the
difference between what I'mcalling a false delight and what
true delight is.
Is the false delight the thingsthat we try to do to create it?
It's all up in the head, buttrue delight you feel in the
heart.
It is this, it is this radiantthing, that that that moves you,
(17:33):
and I think a lot of us areeven afraid to feel that because
it's a vulnerable feeling, andso when those whispers come,
we're quick to dismiss it, or wetry to hide it or put it away
it, or we try to hide it or putit away.
(17:54):
Just the other day I can'tremember what it was that I was
listening to, but it was really.
It was really strange.
I think maybe we were talkingabout Mr Holland's opus on the
on our group coaching call thispast week, and I haven't thought
about that movie in forever.
But.
But we were getting in a littlebit of a deep discussion.
I was using it as a metaphorfor something and I started to
(18:14):
get teary eyed.
That was delightful, it touchedsomething deep within me and
typically I would be like oh no,don't let anyone see that I'm
starting to get teary eyed, butinstead I, I was, and and what I
did in that moment is I reallysat in it and I enjoyed that
moment.
And then I said to myself okay,what did that touch within me
(18:37):
that made me feel this way?
I need to explore that.
What about this emotion touchedme to the point that, bringing
me spontaneously to tears?
And how do I get in touch withthat?
How do I what?
There's something there andwe're so quick to dismiss those
feelings or even write them offas, oh, I'm just being emotional
(19:01):
or oh, this is a, but no, thoseare the moments, those are the
feelings that you have toembrace.
It's like when I listened to asong and it makes it and I get
you know goosebumps you have toembrace.
It's like when I listen to asong and I get goosebumps, I try
to go okay, why, what'shappening here that this is
getting me goosebumps?
Valerie (19:21):
What is the feeling?
Because that's such adelightful moment.
It's so much in the noticing ofthat.
And isn't it interesting how wedo we are so quick to ignore or
write off the idea that whatfeels good, what brings us that
delight, could be our truestguide.
(19:42):
That there is some nugget therethat it's touching on.
We ignore that, because if itfeels delightful, it just feels
easy.
Or again, we have all of thisit's frivolous, oh yeah, that
it's silly, I don't know.
I just I just love flowers orwhatever, and it's almost easy
(20:03):
to ignore the fact that thatcould be some of the best clues
that we possibly have to ournext steps.
To our magic, to the delight ofthat, leaning into that a
little bit more can changeeverything in the best way.
(20:24):
And so this also brings me to apoint of somebody's magic,
their inherent magic, that webelieve everybody, every human
being, has that you have it thatkernel inside that is just your
truth and light and delight andcreativity unlocks those parts
(20:59):
of us and freedom.
I want to put that in there.
Mak (21:02):
Yeah, because when you can truly express who you are, then
nothing else matters.
And that is true freedom.
Valerie (21:09):
And delight is kind of like a key to that part.
Why do we write it off?
It's like holds the skeletonkey.
Mak (21:19):
It's a flashlight in the dark pointing on something, but
I think that we write it offbecause so many of us think that
it's frivolous.
A it might be like oh, that'ssuper childish, I can't pay
attention to that, I have to bea grownup.
Valerie (21:40):
Or we're just dysregulated from life that we
don't even notice.
Mak (21:44):
Or B, c.
Oh, is this C?
I can't even remember now.
Valerie (21:49):
I think it's B.
Mak (21:51):
We're being like Buzz in Home Alone.
Now I'm like, maybe I thinkit's b I'm being.
We're being like buzz and homealone.
Um b I'm gonna say it's b the.
We're not allowed to feel good.
Right, we tell ourselves youknow that felt really good for
15 seconds, but now I have to goback to feeling like crap
because I'm meant to go throughlife feeling like garbage.
(22:11):
Life is not meant to be enjoyed.
Life is meant to put your headdown and work and hustle to earn
your seven days or your 15minutes of kind of fake
happiness and then go back towork again happiness and then go
back to work again.
Valerie (22:32):
Right, it is this messaging of well, being an
adult is hard and life is hardand there's all this stuff
that's hard and we need tosuffer, and it is.
It's very counter and it'salmost rebellious to say I'm
going to seek a life that itjust delights me.
(22:53):
Uh, our friend wendy wendyharrop.
She said I am not available foranything that does not delight
me.
She says that all the time.
That's her phrase and you knowI am not available and that is
is like controversial counter.
Mak (23:09):
do you know how many people that would piss off?
I know that would be like ohscrew her.
Valerie (23:15):
What are you talking about?
Yeah, you can't.
Mak (23:17):
That's not.
Yeah, okay, okay, yeah, I'm notavailable for anything.
What a jerk she is, but it'slike maybe you're the jerk,
because why, why can't?
Why can't someone live a lifethat's purely delightful, which
sounds right?
Valerie (23:35):
If, especially, and because we know this to be true,
delight is the skeleton key.
Delight holds the.
I don't know why I just hadthis vision of Candyland going
through my head.
It's like delight is the pathwe follow, these little bits of
delight like the colors on acandy land board, because that
(23:57):
is touching on the truest partsof us well, here's okay, this is
great.
Mak (24:02):
I love the candy land analogy.
It's the light on the path, butdo you know what else it is?
It's flipping over the icecream card.
So you might see the light onthe path, but when you lock into
your delight, you skipeverything and you go right.
You go right to the sweet spot,the best spot on the board.
You're poised to win, you'repoised to have everything that
(24:24):
you want.
The path is now illuminated andyou can see the end of the
tunnel when you are living inthat, when you are living in
full delight, and the people wholive in full delight are the
ones who are doing amazingthings.
You don't think?
Richard Branson?
We'll refer back to him.
He hasn't set up a life that hejust loves.
(24:44):
He absolutely has.
He talks about it in interviews, he's written books about it.
Other people have interviewedhim, have talked about it.
He literally loves his life andhe's created a life that he can
just live in fully,delightfully, and just doing
what he wants when he wants,because he's fully let up.
And he didn't get there becausehe hustled um in the
(25:08):
traditional sense.
He followed what let him.
Valerie (25:12):
Well, we think that we don't deserve it.
Mak (25:15):
Yeah.
Valerie (25:15):
Until I will deserve it , when, or we feel like it's,
again it goes back to I have todo, I have to earn, I have to
prove, I have to suffer hardenough so that I am worthy or
deserve having this delight, andI actually said it wrong.
So Wendy says I am onlyavailable for what's what
(25:37):
delights me.
I love it, similar thought, butit's just.
That is like you said, how wemove forward, how we get farther
on the path.
Because I think that the thingis, the more we look for it, the
more we say things like thatand own that and seek out those
(25:57):
points of delight.
I think we realize those thingsare seeking you, you know, it's
not a.
Let me think hard enough andfigure this out and strategize
it.
Mak (26:12):
You can't figure it out.
Valerie (26:13):
You can't figure it out .
You can't figure it out.
It's in a posture of allowingand softness and surrender.
And I think when we get to thatplace and then we start to say
I'm only available for whatdelights me, you're going to
start to see it finds you.
Mak (26:32):
And one of the biggest blockers to this concept is the
idea that so many people andthis could be you.
So if this makes you feel alittle uncomfortable, I might be
talking to you right now If youhold yourself back from feeling
delight because other people inthe world aren't, because other
(26:54):
people in the world have itbadly or have it poorly or are
suffering through something, sotherefore you have to suffer
with them.
But the truth here is thatdelight is abundant, delight is
joy, and when you are livingdelightfully and when you are
(27:22):
living delightfully, joyfully,full of life, that is actually
something that spreads and itcontinues.
If you are an example, okay,we're using Richard Branson, but
how many people like we couldliterally sit here and list
hundreds of people who live inpure delight, who we all would
love to be like them, who livein pure delight, who we all
would love to be like them.
So that creates an aspirationalvibe that other people go.
(27:44):
Well, if this person can livelike that, I can live like that.
But the idea that you have tosuffer because somebody else is
suffering is actually control.
You are trying to control tocontrol.
Valerie (27:59):
You know you saying that that's a big truth bomb,
because we can all look out andsee a ton of suffering.
We can look at it in our owncircles.
There is suffering.
Of course we can look at it ona world scale and see just
massive amounts of suffering.
And this is not about nothaving empathy.
Of course we are human beings,we are a collective of the human
(28:26):
race and nobody wants to seethat suffering.
Of course we have empathy forwhat's happening.
But to think that we aresomehow doing something good by
holding ourselves back fromfeeling delayed, because if we
think, well, all of this stuffis happening, I need to stay in
(28:50):
a place of suffering and keepmyself down in that way, that is
a shrinkage of your life force,the thing that could propel you
forward, like you said, mac,and make change and create.
(29:11):
It's like create energy versusshrinkage energy.
And isn't it interesting, okay,just saying the words, notice
even in your body and like wherethis lands when you think about
and hear delight, which is thepath to all of our fun, creative
(29:38):
friends, which are wonder,curiosity, playfulness joy.
Think about those things andjust let that land in your body
and I might just venture to saydoes it feel open, does it feel
open hearted, does it feelalmost like a relaxing in your
(30:02):
shoulders and it feels expanded.
Versus what, if we saysuffering, fear hardship,
struggle, poor, suffering, fearhardship struggle, poor when we
think that the naturalinclination there's a tightening
(30:23):
, it's a tightening, it's a,it's a contraction, it is a
closed off.
So it goes to show that thatposture is not a creating,
bringing forth life posture.
Mak (30:43):
I think a great example of this is almost every movie ever
written, and we have obviouslygreat examples just in real life
too.
But what makes a great storyarc just in real life too?
But what makes a great storyarc?
You have someone who is downand out.
They have trouble in their life, something isn't going right.
(31:06):
Then they have the moment wherethey hit rock bottom and they
realize who they really are.
And then they have thisovercoming this, coming to life
journey, and we always root forthat character.
They discover who they reallyare and then boom they.
They explode into positivityand joy and they build a really
(31:28):
successful business, or theybecome the character they're the
hero or the heroine in themovie and we all clap and go
along with it.
In America especially, we lovethe comeback story.
We're big on the comeback story.
We're big on the rags to richestale, why?
Because we look at that andwhen we see, oh my goodness,
(31:48):
this person was living in thisway and then the light bulb went
off and now they're being atrue representation of who they
really are and they're spreadingjoy and happiness and delight
and success and all of the greatthings we root for, that we
relate to that and we go thatcould be me.
We see ourselves in that personand then we close the book or
(32:11):
stop watching the movie and wego back to being the person who
that person was at the beginningof the film and we're all
supportive of this.
But what if the main characterwas like yeah, this, uh, I'm in
a bad place, but so are allthese other people, so I'm just
going to stay in a bad place.
We would hate that movie.
We, that was not.
(32:32):
That would not get off theground.
Like, what is the point of this?
And and how would that helpanybody?
else it wouldn't, and that waswhere I was going is your story
of living fully into yourselfand into your creativity.
Following those whispers andthen acting on them seems scary
because it's vulnerable.
But when you overcome thediscomfort, when you become
(32:58):
comfortable with beinguncomfortable and you start to
live out who you really are andyou start to feel, these
delightful things and thisjoyful stuff come into your life
all of a sudden it becomes amagnet and you begin resonating
at a higher frequency and all ofa sudden you become the
aspirational story and that willactually inspire other people
(33:18):
to do the same.
Yeah, will there always bedetractors?
There will be people who don'tlike you because you're
successful.
That's jealousy.
You don't have room or time forthat and we don't want to be
stuck in this place foreverbecause we're afraid to listen
to the whispers or we're afraidto feel delight.
(33:38):
We were made to be here.
Life is supposed to be goodpeople.
Life is supposed to feel goodand you can choose right now, in
this moment, to live a life ofdelight or keep living in a way
that isn't delightful, and youcan say you guys are crazy.
No, life's too hard, can'thappen.
(34:01):
But there are countlessexamples of people from all
walks of life who started withnothing and or started with the
world, but they weren't happy.
It's the other way too.
Valerie (34:15):
There's people who are really successful.
The circumstance doesn't matter, is the point Exactly, it's
right.
Mak (34:19):
It's like you can live in.
I'm just trying to talk to someof the detractors out there,
and if this conversation ismaking you uncomfortable, then
that's probably good.
This might be like hey, let'sexamine the delight in your life
.
Valerie (34:31):
Right.
It is a worthy wayfinder tofollow those points of delight,
and your entire circumstancedoesn't have to change.
Your situation doesn't have tochange we are literally talking
about being open first of all,open to experiencing that and
noticing those smallest.
(34:52):
And noticing those smallest,tiniest glimmers, the little
points of delight that you mighteasily just brush aside or
think, oh, that's no big deal orthat's something that I see
every day.
But being open to that delightis only going to bring more
delight and as you do that, yourlife force.
(35:14):
It opens you expand.
Delight is an expander of thebest parts of you and the parts
of you that might be buriedunder all of this stuff.
That is a wonderful first step.
Just to be open, I wonder what'sgoing to delight me today.
(35:36):
And then expect, expect to findthat you living.
That way, I can guarantee youyou are going to have more of an
impact.
You are going to affect peoplein a much better way from your
expandedness, from your openness, versus your smallness and your
tightness.
So let's look for delight andexpect it and there's nothing
(36:03):
that you have to do.
Isn't that great?
Something that isn't like allof these to-do lists, it's just
let's notice.
Mak (36:10):
You can have it right now, literally the tiniest thing, in
fact.
Look around you right now,whatever you're doing, and look
for one small thing to bedelighted by right now, in this
moment.
You can find something if youlook for it, something that will
make you smile, something thatyou appreciate, something that
smells good, tastes good, feelsgood, looks good is beautiful.
(36:31):
Tastes good, feels good, looksgood Is beautiful.
What is something right now, inyour personal space, that you
can take 30 seconds and feeldelight over?
Valerie (36:42):
Thank you so much for listening.
Again, this is the UnboundCreative Podcast.
We just love having theseconversations.
We're excited to have more, andif you enjoyed this podcast, if
you found this to be helpful,we would love it.
If you would subscribe, if youwould take a minute to leave a
review.
That means the world.
(37:02):
It helps others who need thispodcast find it, and we would
love to hear from you too.
So drop us a line if thispodcast resonated with you.
Tell us your little bit ofdelight that you're finding, and
we just hope that you see moreand more and more and find your
way back to yourself.
(37:23):
Thank you so much for beinghere.
We'll see you next time.
Take care.
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