Fear is the mind-killer
It’s not about tomorrow. It’s about how you show up today.
In this episode, I talk about fear and how it’s rearing its ugly head these days. Fuck fear. It’s just your lizard brain trying to keep you alive. Tomorrow is still tomorrow, but it’s all about how you show up today. It’s about continuing to be creative…continuing to practice…continuing to live, regardless of tomorrow. As the saying goes, “It doesn’t get easier. You just get stronger”. I also talk briefly about “ikigai”, the Japanese concept meaning “a reason for being”, and how it plays a part in finding your North Star. Here’s a hint: it involves YOU.
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
LINKS
Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life Might Just Help You Live a More Fulfilling Life by Thomas Oppong
This is the article that my friend and fellow misfit, Heather Crank shared recently. I speak to it on today's episode of the show. Take a read and think about how this applies to you and what you are doing in your life and career.
TRANSCRIPT
[0:00] Music.
[0:08] Welcome to ärtful, a community committed to championing artists and creative misfits from all walks of life.
This show gives you an insider's look into the real, scrappy lives of artists creating with purpose, including interviews with beatboxers, graffiti writers, DJs, chefs, photographers, designers, illustrators, filmmakers, and music artists from around the globe, as well as insights and inspiration from yours truly.
I'm Gabriel if an award-winning artist, coach, entrepreneur and fellow misfit. All right, let's do this.
[0:39] Music.
[0:51] I had a mastermind session earlier with a friend of mine. She's an amazing voice actor and actor.
She's developing this super cool podcast idea.
So we've been talking about that and our sessions. And after I was done with this session, uh, it just was, like, so lit up.
And I was like, You know, I want to see something inspiring while I have lunch and I popped on Broken Bread by Chef Roy Choi, and I'm just a huge fan of him. I love the chef show.
I love what he stands for. I love him as a human and a chef, and he's just ah, a kindred.
And I just recently found out that he's done this show Broken Bread on Hulu
[1:39] And so I'm like, All right, so I fixed lunch and sit down and start the first episode. I literally within minutes m just waterworks.
The show itself is about him shining a light on L. A.
And these cool restaurants and organizations that are supporting the people.
And the first episode is about one of the places called Dough Girl.
Where you know this. This woman has opened up her restaurant to be a place where kids from the street can, whether they have drug addictions or not, can,
you know, come in and start slinging pizzas and learning to cook and be part of a family and get off the street and,
be able to get their life together?
It's just awesome to see there's so many people out there doing so so many good things,
and it's It sucks to see humans on the other end of the spectrum doing such dark things right now, but I get it because a lot of it comes from fear.
[2:44] And that's what I want to talk about In this episode is fear.
I read an article the other day, my friend and ah, fellow artists Heather Crank.
She's, ah, on my podcast.
She's Episode three. I talk about her often because we're good buddies, and she's just an amazing champion for artists as well.
She shared this article around the Japanese concept of geeky guy, and that's basically the intersection of what you're good at and what you love doing.
It's spelled I K I G A I, and it's a Japanese concept, meaning a reason for being.
But it's basically taking what you're good at, what you love, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for and you're putting that together.
And what's at the center of that those each of those four circles is the “ikigai”.
[3:41] I'll share the link to the article. It's on medium dot com,
but it goes into, you know, the chart and a little deeper dive until you know what, That where it came from and what it means and how people are living in that way.
Um, but it's just been sitting with me because fear plays such apart and where we're living right now, like so many people are afraid of what tomorrow looks like.
The lizard brain is just taking over these days and is, you know, kind of running the show for a lot of people.
And it's really from this place of like, wanting normalcy again. And, you know, I've always been open and able to accept change, and not everybody can do that.
I moved around a lot as a kid, and so I understand.
[4:35] Meeting new people, making new friends, being in new unknown places and being able to feel comfortable quickly.
You know, in this time, because our lizard brain is trying to keep us alive.
And we have all these questions and uncertainties about tomorrow.
[4:55] It's coming from this place of fear, and,
people are getting a lot of external guidance from their feeds, from sitting with Netflix and binging shows and watching the news and all of these things getting distracted.
And I've been having conversations in my masterminds and zoom calls and conversations that I'm having.
And there are others of us who are going internally in looking inwards and are using this time to grow and learn more about ourselves.
Look from within for our own North Star about what tomorrow looks like.
And not everybody believes in this. And I get it. I say to that Why not?
[5:47] You know, what do we have to lose from taking this time to set aside just a little bit?
If you're taking the time to invest in all of these other things, then why not take a little time to put it into yourself?
You know, I've had a hard time answering a lot of questions that air completely related to what I've been talking about with the “ikigai” and questions that a lot of us are trying to answer. You know, what are we meant to do?
You know, How can we be successful as artists?
How can we be fulfilled and make a paycheck and put food on our table and be able to provide for our families and for ourselves and what I'm leaning into right now is answering that question?
[6:36] Looking at different things, whether it's with my health and fitness, whether it's with reading and learning,
whether it's with just being fucking creative and being able to just support these other artists that I love and continuing to dive deeper and deeper into, you know, what are the things I love?
What are the things that the world needs?
What can I do and be paid for it?
And what am I good at? What are those four things and what is that geeky guy?
And where do that? What is the passion and the mission in the profession and the vocation all intersect, and it's not like you can answer this overnight, you know, it's a working progress, which is so his life that's one of things that have loved about,
practicing yoga and practicing meditation is that it's about practice.
[7:25] And I've actually used that when I look at, like exercise and,
you know, whatever it is I'm working on, it's just practice were practicing. And whether that's with your craft or whether that's with something that is maybe a weakness for you that you're wanting to grow, to practice.
If you miss a day, it's OK.
Let's get back to practice the next day. It's kind of, Ah, serious topic, and I'm getting a little deep here. But it's all just to say like I understand what you're going through.
A lot of us are going through it.
It doesn't matter who you are, how prepared or not prepared you were for this thing.
[8:09] It's all the same. It doesn't matter in the big scope of the universe in time.
This isn't the first time this has happened. It's not the last. Tomorrow is still gonna be tomorrow, but it's all about how you show up today, and so I leave you with that.
I hope you have an awesome rest of your day, keep being creative, keep doing the work and keep love in life because it's how the world keeps spinning until next time keep being are for you.
[8:44] Music.
[8:51] Well, that's it for this episode, whether this is your first time listening or you're already a fan.
Thanks for being here. I hope you enjoy the show.
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Thanks again for listening until next time keeping ärtful!
[9:30] Music.
