#183: Unlocking Our Creativity with Aeron Brown

Welcome to the Author Audience show, the podcast that helps you reach more people with your message. Create a book, connect with your audience, change lives. Here's your host, Shelly Hitz.

Welcome to Author Audience, where I'm on a mission to help you reach more people with your message. It's time to let your light shine. Today I'm rolling out the red carpet and inviting you to join me for this expert interview with Erin Brown. Welcome, Erin.

Hi. It's great to be here.

I'm so excited to have you. You're such an inspiration. I first connected with you because we're both going to be leading workshops at Gathering of Artisans this year. But then I started watching some of your live videos on Facebook and I was like, whoa, this guy's just a well of encouragement and inspiration for creatives.

That's awesome.

I just wanted to have you on the podcast to share a little bit about what you're doing. But let me just share a little bit about you and then we'll just hop right in because I know you're about ready to bless a lot of writers today. So Aaron is a art gallery owner, a contemporary visual artist. He's a singer, songwriter, worship pastor, guest speaker, children's book author, father of three with a passion for city transformation through arts, and he lives in Redlands, California. His website's aaronbrown.com it's a e r o n brown dot com. So, Erin, you're just this well of creativity and inspiration, but you didn't always just flow out of your creative gifts, did you?

No, I was really locked up. I had some spirit of religion on me, and I thought that to be a worship leader, you had to hold an acoustic guitar.

And you couldn't play an electric guitar back in that day.

And I thought that how can. There was no Christian books that were not about Jesus and had little robes and angels dancing around. At the time, there was nothing that I found that was hitting both the Christian and the secular realms. And that was a frustration for me, you know, And I was just. I just believe that I couldn't be an artist because artists don't make money and they don't have healthy families. They don't just everything society kind of puts on you and then the 10 liars in your head that you. Honestly, it's not even always just the voices around you. It's the voices in your own head. The voices that says you'll never make it. And you would never walk into a room with 10 people berating you and telling you're stupid. But we do it every day. We live in the room of our mind, and we let those liars of our own thoughts speak to us and define who we are. And it's taken years, and it's still a daily practice of mine to shut down the critics in my own mind and those around me, and go on the journey and be brave. I love the Bible. Yeah, the Bible says the righteous are as bold as lions, man. I refuse to have nothing less fruit on my life and have boldness on my life and courage. And I'm just sick of being punked around by the devil, you know, Live and thrive. Yeah.

Yeah, I know. I was just at an artist event last night, and I was. I came home and all of this, you know, stinking thinking, whatever, you know, the things you were talking about were came into me, like, who am I to be doing this? All these other people are better than me, you know, all this stuff. And I was like, no. And the Lord's like, shelly, you're living in a box. You literally, like, that's what you can do in your own strength. I don't want you to have any limits. I want you to live without any limits. Realize what I can do. You've talked about some of the limits that you had just in the flesh. Didn't you have dyslexia or something like that?

Yeah. Even in high school, I could barely read. And the way I got through high school is doing extra credit art programs. So I designed the book cover of the yearbook and designed playbills for different plays that were going on, musicals and stuff. And I designed logos for skate shops and all these things in high school. And, you know, just to get through high school, I did all these weird extracurricular projects for teachers all the time. If they needed a poster made, I would just do a poster. And that got me through high school because I could barely read. And it was through the efforts of my wife and later on being at a conference where I had a supernatural encounter with God that washed over me like barrels of hope and life and truth. And after I went home, I started ferociously devouring the word of God. And I couldn't read it all before then, and I was able to supernaturally read.

And I read book after book. Now I have books and books on my shelves. And I never thought I would let alone reading. I didn't have good grammar. I still don't have the best. But the Lord said, I want you to write a book and make a children's book. So I made this children's Book. And a lot of people say, you know, that's not a children's book. Right. That's more of like an adult book. But I placed it in a way that it can be for adults and children so they can kind of connect together and share moments together.

Right.

And so, yeah, now I have a children's book. And I never would have thought, you know.

Wow. Yeah. I mean, so inspiring the fact that you couldn't barely read and now you're a published author and you've, you know, you probably have other books that you have in you, right?

I do. You know, one year I was at a song, I was out at a place where all these bands are gathering. I was watching the show of musicians play and had an open vision of a merch table. And the Lord said, aaron, you're gonna have booklets and booklets, and they're gonna be volumes and volumes. And it's so cool. Just, I self published this book and I already have some publishers looking to help me out for my next ones. And it's just. It's so cool. I just. I'm the least likely person to ever write a book. And it's so encouraging. And you know, what helped me was the idea of making in the raw. Make things raw. Even if you feel like they're never gonna be finished, stop trying to make them perfect, make them presentable before people. Even if it's a special edition of a hundred, put them out there. Because I know with me, if I don't ever do it, I don't ever do it. My friend said the most profoundest thing the other day. He says, aaron, if you do it, then you will do it. And that hit me so strong. It was so simple but true. So I have this little key I wear on my neck that says, do it on it. And every day when I come to the gallery, my biggest trouble is I think too much. It's the paralysis of analysis. And I get stuck there. And I analyze everything and how everything's going to be. And because of that, I never do anything with it. And I just get stuck. So the Lord told me to release my book and I did. And there was a bunch of errors and stuff in it. But then it was like I had free editors that came and.

They were like, you know, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong. And I was like, great, thank you. These are invaluable things. And I took that back and I did my second edition and I've been selling them hundreds of copies and it's been great. You know, even with the messes and some people like that. Because what it does is it allows people to be a part of your creative process. You're building a culture and a community around what you're making and they're creating with you. It's an amazing thing. And so, yeah, and people are so tired of people that have it all together too. They want real people that they want to follow and they want to be a part of what you're doing. And sometimes we just don't allow people to be apart because we just want to look all shiny and gleamy and smart. And those are boxes that we put ourselves in, just like the boxes of religion that we were talking about earlier. And we place ourselves in these boxes of our own mind, other people's mind, of how it should be and how it should be exhibited. But there's something about making that raw product and putting it out there before people and then developing it in time and how you won't ever do it if you don't do it.

Wherever creativity exists, walls fall down and boxes are exploded. And if we really, really want to live a creative lifestyle, we have to be willing to let the walls be stretched out, the tent pegs stretched out, the walls to come tumbling down.

I love how it's shown in the Bible how the walls of Jericho come down, but not by swords and spears and the forces of warriors, but by the sound of a trumpet, a creative expression. And I really believe we're walking into this generation, that we're going to stand up, we're going to rise up, and we're going to lift our trumpets of creativity in this generation. We're going to see walls of religion fall down and it will help draw us to relationship. We're going to see walls and boxes of thinking, old thinking crumble. And it's going to draw us home to the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord, there is God, and that there is one hope and there's one way, and it's going to be powerful. And it's the artisans that are going to get rid of all these weird facades that churches have built and it's going to turn the church back to God. We don't need a new church. We need to destroy the church. We need to take the church that's happening right now on the earth and break down all the walls and bring us back to Jesus.

I really believe we are the instruments of that change.

Do you think that's why there's so much resistance and opposition when you're seeking to really use A creative gift. Like, I know, I felt that. I know the writers I coach feel it. I think it's a common thing with creatives. Like it's just so much resistance and opposition. Do you think that's one of the reasons why?

Absolutely. There's so much warfare against the creatives. Because it's a seed. The creative offering is a seed. It's like the word. It's like the word of God on the earth. And if that seed is aborted and the enemy knows that if he can abort the seed from developing and being cultivated and to growing into fruit, then it will never have fruit on the earth. So the enemy is always trying to abort the seed of our creative journey. And we have, we see in the natural, we see all these aborted babies. Can you imagine all creative babies that we've had this generation? And that the Lord travailing and longing for sons and daughters to rise up that look just like him in creativity and the manifestation of creative sons and daughters are about to break forth in the earth. They just need to know that they're allowed to be that. And he's been stealing from them. And can you imagine what it's going to look like when the body of Christ says, I want everything that the enemy stole from me in creativity and I want it 10 times fold and it starts manifesting in this generation. It's going to be mind blowing what's going to come out of the church in the next few years. And it's not just going to be the simple little things that we've always seen in the church, like paintings of lions and doves. We're going to see creative expressions that cause people to wonder and they're going to be filled with amazement that are going to cause awe to rip through secular universities and through societies. And it's happening already. I'm hearing reports of it all the time that God's changing the way we think because the sons and daughters are arising.

Yeah. So you have just said so much goodness and I hope those of you listening are taking notes, but.

Just talk a little bit. I mean, I know you do paintings in many different settings, you know, like in churches, but also weddings, you know, live paintings. But then you also have paintings you just paint, you know, in your studio or whatever, but tell maybe a story or two of how a painting has resulted in something that God has done in someone's life, you know, a testimony of your own of like, you know, a story that has happened with one of your paintings.

Yeah, there's just so Many things. The first thing that comes to my mind was I was commissioned for a painting for a family, because the family, one of the members, knew that the Lord was on my life. And that was such an incredible gift to say, I just know the Lord is on your life. Will you paint my family at painting and paint whatever the Lord tells you? So I paint this gigantic oak tree over a vineyard. And in the oak tree there's angels descending through the light beams of this oak tree. And I drew the family approaching the light of these beings that were kind of erupting through the light beams of this tree. And I drew the children, the different generations. And this family was in a feud and there was a lot of divorce in the family. Different families that were connecting and frustration between that and there was a lot of broken hearts and hurting. And this painting helped put them all in one frame, in one context that said, you are one family, you're going in the same direction. That's towards God, that's towards the light, and there's fruitfulness over your vineyard. And it literally got them all in one room together. The painting was presented and tears flowed through that meeting and healing and unity. And a binding of one hope through Jesus Christ was formed. And it was just through one painting. And.

I've had people come in my art gallery. I have a friend that, a dear friend of mine that she, she wouldn't mind me telling this, that she, you know, she was a lesbian. And over the course of a year, just spending time with her, just creating a non religious space for her to come in and talk about creativity and music and worship and the love of God. She said, I didn't need, I don't need being a lesbian to make me feel whole anymore. And that was just an incredible gift from the Father, how the community of creativity brought that out. And I've seen people standing in front of my paintings weeping. And I've seen how it's helped people in sex trafficking and through molestation and broken hearts and create a narrative for people in their own secret place. I can't even tell you how many times people have said, aaron, you painted the exact thing that God has been speaking to me in this season. And so the Lord keeps saying, will you be a timely voice to the body of Christ? Will you create out of the seasons of your life and be a prophetic voice? And many times it doesn't look like lions and doves. It looks like a little bird carrying a house or a bear carrying a cell ship. And it looks like children breaking chains. Or hummingbirds breaking chains and weird symbolic imagery, or oak trees filled with light. And so these things minister to people and that's been my process.

Well, I think pictures and stories, they open people up in a way that just preaching and that sort of thing is just. It's different. And so it's just such a way to just present a story or a picture. And a lot of people listening are writers. Some of them are also multi talented and are artists as well. But it's just so important to not hide that gift.

Let it come out and to be listening to God. Like what you were saying, like, okay, what is it? I'm to paint for right now and in this season. And he'll give it to you. He'll show you. And I just love that. So, something else that I love. I was watching one of your live videos and you were talking about your latest album, which I bought. And if you guys want to be blessed, go buy it. It's amazing.

Praise God.

Is it called Father's House?

Yeah, the Father's House.

The Father's House. Yeah. So go get it. It's amazing. I've listened to it a lot. But you were talking about that. First of all, I just love the fact that you said you recorded it in your friend's class closet.

Right, right.

Like you didn't wait for perfect conditions or like, I mean, but it sounds. I mean, it sounds like you were in a studio. Like.

Yeah, it's weird. It's been a long time process. And I love the thought that a picture is worth a thousand words. And one day I was in my journal that I call a messy journal. And I was drawing just out of my devotion to the Lord. And I keep that regularly. And I allow myself to make mistakes in that journal. It's where I keep all my brainstormed ideas. And I do that regularly. And a picture came out of that of a father carrying a bag of stars, bringing it home to his little home. And the only response of this little home was like a plume of smoke from the chimney in the shape of a mouth, a misshapen heart. And. And I feel like that's been the story of my journey. I don't have anything really beautiful to bring, but all that God has brought me is just a universe of beauty. And I can't help but respond. So artwork becomes a response and my music has become a response. And from knowing my father, having encounters with him just year after year, I never felt like my songs were good enough. I never felt like they were ready enough. And I would always tell myself, one day I'll release that album when I'm mature enough to release it. But God loves us in our process. And I always thought I had to be some theologian to release anything worthy into the earth. And the Lord's like, no, I like your song, Aaron. And the weird things about you that only you can do. It's my fault. I put it on you.

I will shape you and you will grow and you'll become something new in every season. But to hear him say that his hand, even in my process of immaturity, not necessarily that it's his fault, but that the things that I like and that I enjoy is his fault. It really helped validate and call me into service because I never felt like what I had to say was important enough. And he loves what we have, even in the seasons that we have it. Maybe it's not all articulated or shiny, but he said to never put our light under a bushel or under a place of hiding. And he said, let your light shine before men that they may glorify God. And we have so long. For so long in. In the name of religion, we've said, let's glorify God. But this is how you glorify God by don't show your face, don't show your name, don't show your uniqueness. Bring all attention to God, but it's the opposite. When you are truly who you are, you stand in your name, you stand in your face that the Father has given you, and you let your light shine. It doesn't say just his light. He says, let your light shine before men. When you let your light shine in him, there's a powerful synergy that happens, and it releases a uniqueness that nobody else can release in the earth. So I had all these songs in my secret place, and I just stored them up. And that was another thing that I chose. Even though I didn't. I did one thing really well. Even though I was hiding my light, I stored my light, and I didn't let it burn out. I held onto it. Like when it says, mary treasured these things in her heart when referring to Jesus and the things that he spoke that she didn't quite understand, she still treasured them in her heart. And I became a treasury of the word of the Lord in my life and the creative ideas and they stored up. And so when my friend just was like, let's record all your songs, I had so much, and I still have.

You were ready.

Yeah. I had so many more albums, you know, Because I created a lifestyle of being in the presence of my father. So I have so many things more I can't wait to share with people.

Yeah. And this was really an album just from hearing your testimony, like, growing up without a father and, you know, learning to come into God the Father and, you know, come into him. Like, I mean, I remember you saying, like, you had wanted to write or produce this album or have this album since, like, you were almost like 18 or something like that, right?

Yeah, I have. See, when I was a little boy, my father died at the age of three. And like any boy wants to do, they want to get to know their father. And I wanted to get to know my father. And the way I did it was I went after his paintings and his sketches and his writings because he was an artist too.

Wow.

The only way I could do that was to break into what I call my mother's grieving closet, her grieving closet. See, he passed away, so she. She kept all his belongings in a closet with lock and key. And when she would be out of the house, because I was a latchkey kid and I'd be alone quite often, I would break into this closet to be with my father. And I really believe that God is raising up an army of people that are about to break into the closets of their lost father, and they're going to unlock just the treasure trove of the nature of Abba. See, I did that in the natural with my earthly father. And there came a point where I burnt out because the grieving wasn't helping my creative process. See, death never produces life. If you keep pursuing death, you only get death. But the moment I start pursuing God as a father man, it unlocked a treasure trove of things. And I used to literally go into my natural closet and I'd light candles in my closet. I would spend time with. With Abba in the closet, worshiping with my guitar. Or I'd turn a bathroom into a closet and spend time with him there. Anywhere I could be in the quiet and the stillness and unlock the treasure trove. Sometimes it was my garage. And there's closets all over the earth that are about to be unlocked. And I can't believe we're living in this generation that we get to go before a living father. We get to go before the living God, and we get to unlock the treasures that have been waiting for to be unlocked from history past until this very now moment. And we get to do this. It's incredible. And we get to find creative thoughts and heart and we get to express them through our uniqueness. Like, if you like unicorns, then paint unicorns. If you like stories about unicorns. Jesus likes stories about unicorns. You know, unicorns are actually in the Bible and a lot of people don't know that. If you look at certain translations, there's unicorns. But I'm just saying, all that to say is there's so much more creativity than what that we've given our religious boxes credit for. I mean, wherever creativity exists, walls will be falling down, doors of these closets will be ripped open, and treasures are going to be laid before our eyes.

So good. I mean, we could talk forever. I'm just like, preach.

I get excited. I know, I'm excited too. I can be over here dancing. But I just feel like it would be such a blessing if you'd just be willing to pray over the writers and creatives who are listening right now. Those that are blocked, those that are outside that locked closet or that have those walls that need to come down, that have that creativity that God wants them to just use in amazing ways. Just maybe just pray over them right now and just bless them in that way.

Yeah. Abba. Daddy, I thank you for the finished work of the cross and our inheritance in you as sons and daughters of a living God. Right now we declare in the name of Jesus that prisons are opening, closets are being unlocked, that walls are tumbling down, that our messiness is okay for you, that you're not afraid of our messes, that you say errors are the portals of discovery right now over this generation, that portals are starting to open up all over the earth as we're just speaking these things of creativity, of new life, closets are unlocking treasures in the secret place, God, that there's just reservoirs in your heart that are just waiting to be just to fill your sons and daughters for such a time as this. New ideas, new thoughts, new creativity, and some of it's even old creativity with a new spin through our uniqueness that makes it brand new. And Lord, I just declare and decree by the blood of Jesus, the sons and the daughters are arising for such a time as this. As such a time as this. Just like Esther of old, Lord, where she was, she just rose up with her spirit of creativity and beautified herself and saved a nation. God, I just declare and decree. Just like David who, who basically changed warfare in one generation through bringing a sling into the scenario. God, I just declare and decree. Creative ideas are starting to come like slings and stones, like makeup and of Esther, like Beautification that is going to rip new pathways and new ideas into the earth. That people are going to even jump on the trains of some of the people that are listening to this very podcast that are going to be inspired by their work, and it's only going to be like an avalanche of creativity that's going to flow. We declare that your children are not defeated, they're not depleted, they're not burnt out, that they get to make a mess. They get to be raw in their creativity. We get to make in the raw. We get to be flexible and. And willing to change and willing to open our minds to new things and our hearts to new things with you. We declare that you're not boring, you're not angry, you're in a good mood, and you have so much to give and I thank you for. Isaiah talks about how you earnestly, expectantly look and long just to be gracious to us right now. I just released the Father's blessing of graciousness over these creative minds and hearts today that they be encouraged to write like they've never written before. And it's through the seasons of their lives. I just declare that you're unpacking their unique wording, unique creativity, unique thoughts through the season that they're standing in right now. Through the pain, through the discouragement, through the encouragement, through the mundane.

There's a color, there's a word, there's a shape, there's a fragrance, there's a dance to everything that you want to release right now. Just sculpt them in this season and let them not kick against the hands of the potter Father. Just take them on that journey. I just declare and decree blessings in Jesus name.

Amen.

Yeah.

So good, right?

Awesome. Yes. I love it. I just so long to see creatives just freed just in that freedom, you know, the Holy Spirit and, you know, just relationship with Jesus and our identity as his sons and daughters just to be free to create. And I see so many blocked and locked and so I'm just believing with you and just that prayer that will just touch so many people. And, you know, as we kind of come to a close, is there any just like, you know, thoughts or encouragement that you want to share to writers that are listening?

Well, just to believe that you are infinitely more capable than what you really feel at this moment. You know, artists, one of our greatest gifts is that we feel so deeply.

Yeah.

Don't let your feelings control your output and control your cultivating of the seed. And if anything, uncover the seed that you are creative and hold on to that and then cultivate it and develop that and then you can distribute it. But if you don't start somewhere by cultivating, you'll never be able to distribute anything. And so go cultivate. You know what cultivating looks like? It looks like tilling up hard, rocky soil sometimes. And it hurts and it's painful and there's emotion involved. But you put your foot, one foot after another. It's a moment by moment process. And your daddy isn't scared to let you learn how to walk for the first time into your creative calling. He's so happy that you're doing it. He's just got a grin from ear to ear and he's smiling at you and he's only speaking positivity over you. If you're hearing something negative, it's not from God. I just want to. The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. But God has come to give life and life more abundant. That is your portion. Today. Lay hold of your father's smile. Lay hold of his positive words and affirmations over your life and walk into it. Walk into it today, now is the time. Not tomorrow, not later on in your destiny. And we always want to say, oh, one day I'm going to be creative. Today is the day to be a creative. You're born for such a time as this. Not for tomorrow, not for yesterday, just now. Just live it. Don't think about the past, don't think about the future, just think about now. Live in the moment with your father in the creative process and do it day in, day out. And you will just find you are standing on mountains that you never would have even dreamed. I've seen cities transformed. I've seen the city of Redlands transformation. I've seen how the city of Banning has been transformed just by taking one step after another. Validating artists, validating business owners, encouraging people. You know, if you refresh others, you yourself will be refreshed. Go after, be violent, Say, I'm going to make art or I'm going to die. Because this part of you will die. That part of you will die. If you don't cultivate it. The seed will die. And don't let the crows stand over your seed and the shadow of that. And don't live in the shadow of the crow, live in the shadow of the Almighty and let him speak the mighty truth over you that you are sons and daughters of the living God and you can create with him. So, hey, man, you're going to do great. You're going to Live, you're going to thrive. The journey is just starting. Don't despise the days of small beginnings and just keep going. Just keep going.

Yeah. So if people want to connect with you further and just see more about what you're doing, but also receive the encouragement that you give to creatives, what's the best way for them to connect with you?

Yeah, Facebook is a great tool. Instagram is a great tool. And then I'll also be at the gathering of the artists in October with you, and it's going to be wonderful. And then you can go on my website. But the best way is really to just keep in contact through Instagram and Facebook. Okay.

Awesome.

Yeah. We live in the greatest moment in history to be an artist. Because of the Internet. It's literally, if you're not, there's so many open doors to thrive, and you don't have to be the best artist in the world. You just need to go out there, take one step at a time, and you really can impact the world. It's incredible how the gates are all wide open right now. For.

I was just saying that to some artists last night because my. My art is just exploding. My visual art, because I've been an author and a writer for a long time, but my visual art is just exploding. They're like, shelly, we see you doing all these things and all, duh, duh, duh. And I'm like, you know what? I'm just putting myself out there. I know I'm not the best artist. I'm still improving my craft. I'm improving my skill, but I'm putting myself out there. And people are buying my art. They're wanting to know more. They're commissioning me for things. And I'm like, a lot of times we just aren't putting ourselves out there and just allowing God to open those doors. My friend sent me something for my birthday. It was like a little lock for a gate. And she said, shelly, I'm praying for all the open doors for you this year, you know, And I was just like, that's for all of us. Like, when you were saying that, I was like, that's for all of us. Like, there's so many doors that God has for us. If we will just take those steps and one after another, day after day. Like you were saying, sometimes when you don't feel like it, like, I don't feel like it every day, you know, but. But you're just one day after day after day after day, and then it's like, whoa, look what God's doing, right?

Somebody right now that's listening needs to hear this and repeat after me and say, no limits. No limits. And then they need to say, no boundaries, no boundaries. And then some of you need to say that my creativity is going to broaden. My creativity is going to broaden. And some of you need to say that new mediums are coming. New mediums and new types of ways of creativity. New types of ways of creativity are coming. See, some of us never thought, oh, I never thought I'd be into jewelry, but suddenly some of you are going to be into jewelry. Never thought I'd be into basket making, but all of a sudden some of you are going to say, oh, I'm into basket making.

I never thought I'd be a guest speaker. I never thought I'd be a children author. I never thought I'd be a painter. I never thought even at one point in my life that I'd be a visual artist or a musician or a songwriter. But I've been able to lay all those things before the Lord and just continue to say, I'll do whatever. Every gift that you've given me, I want to cultivate. And then the Lord will raise up in seasons certain parts of those creative gifts, and he'll help fund you monetarily. He'll help. One of them may be more of a ministry gift to people, and another maybe more of a monetary blessing and multiple streams of income may come through all those things. And then we'll go, Man, I'm so glad that I didn't just cultivate just one, because in this next season, I wouldn't have been able to help myself through this financial difficulty of this other season. So use all the gifts that God's. Don't limit yourself to that box. Wherever creativity exists, walls must fall down.

Yeah, I was just talking to my friend Angela Meyer yesterday, and she was sharing a quote from the book Steal like an Artist. And I just want to share it real quick because it just goes right with what you were saying. He says, if you have two or three real passions, don't feel like you have to pick one and choose between them. Don't discard. Keep all your passions in your life. The thing is, you can cut off a couple passions and only focus on one. But after a while, you'll start to feel phantom limb pain. I spent teenage years obsessed with songwriting and playing in bands. But then I decided I needed to focus on writing. So I spent half a decade hardly playing any music at all. The phantom pain got worse and Worse. About a year ago, I started playing in a band again. Now I'm starting to feel whole. And the crazy thing is, rather than the music taking away from my writing, I found it interacting with my writing and making it better. I can tell the new synapses in my brain are firing and new connections are being made. And so he talks about not, like, amputating any of your limbs.

Right.

You know, because you have so many gifts and so many things to give, and, you know, not to just say, okay, I have to just put that, you know, over there or shove it under. You know, it's like, yeah, there's seasons. There's seasons for things. But that's where we come up to life, you know, when we're really using all the gifts. And I found that it's just been two years that I've started this whole journey of visual art. And in those two years, I found, like, I'm, like, coming to life in a way I've never come to life before. And I'm like, I didn't even know this was in me. I had no idea.

Yeah. And then that whole picture is worth a thousand words. Then you look at that picture that you created, and then more words come. It's like an avalanche. It's just like, you put one thing out there, and then it inspires another thing and another thing. It's addicting, man. Creativity is contagious. Pass it on. I think Albert Einstein said that. Yeah. And Albert knew what he was talking about. You know, like, I think we need to realize that this thing is. You're never gonna get into the flow if you don't start making something. And. But, man, thank you so much. It's encouraging just to be here on this little.

Thank you so much for being here. And I just encourage all of you, go check out his, you know, Facebook, Instagram, connect with him, go get his album, check out his children's book, so Many Things. And I know you have so many more things coming, and so thank you so much for being here and everyone, we will see you next time. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye.

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