Find joy through creativity | Heather Green | TEDxBangor — Transcript

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1. 0:02[music]
2. 0:14Flood the world with trees and bees in
3. 0:18the sun's sweet sparkling dew. Rise up
4. 0:21and give yourself a shake. Take hold of
5. 0:24days and stay awake. Eat candy floss and
6. 0:28kiss the rain because life can be so
7. 0:31full of pain. Eat gummy bears without a
8. 0:34cur and snuggle here and cuddle there.
9. 0:37Now flood the world with kisses true and
10. 0:40feel much happier in all you do.
11. 0:45Creativity can change the course of your
12. 0:47day.
13. 0:50My we mommy loved flowers.
14. 0:54She loved country and western music, but
15. 0:56most of all, my we mommy loved fashion.
16. 1:01So, mom had been ill and uh we knew that
17. 1:04she didn't have long to live.
18. 1:07Not long before mom passed away, I got
19. 1:09to spend the day with her.
20. 1:12On that day, I learned so much about my
21. 1:15mom's attitude towards faith, towards
22. 1:19life, death, and grief. and the actual
23. 1:23importance of keeping a creative
24. 1:25mindset.
25. 1:28Mom had had a day full of pain. Um we
26. 1:32got the pain under control but by the
27. 1:35afternoon she was still sort of her mood
28. 1:37was really really low. So I talked to
29. 1:40her and I sort of said look mom you know
30. 1:42is there anything I can do? Is there any
31. 1:44way I can help you, Mom, and maybe
32. 1:46organize, you know, something for you
33. 1:48and uh, you know, do a bit of planning?
34. 1:52And I said, "Look, Mom, you we all know
35. 1:54what's happening here." And she went,
36. 1:56"Well, of course you know what's
37. 1:57happening. I'm dying." And she said,
38. 2:00"Look, I'm all right with that. I have
39. 2:01my faith in God and I'm going to heaven
40. 2:05and I'm okay, Pat. Don't you be worrying
41. 2:07one bit." I said, "Look, mom, do you
42. 2:10know I mean like would you like to pick
43. 2:12your hymns and things like that?" So she
44. 2:14said, "Ah, right enough." She said, "I
45. 2:17love that abide with me and I love um
46. 2:20how great thy art and I love the Lord's
47. 2:22my shepherd." And I said, "Okay, Mommy."
48. 2:25I said, "Well, sure, that's grand." So
49. 2:27mommy picked her hymns.
50. 2:29And then she said, "I'm just thinking
51. 2:31about flowers.
52. 2:33Do you know I love those dusky pink
53. 2:35roses, Heather? Mommy, I know the very
54. 2:38one you mean. I love them, too. I'd love
55. 2:42all things pink and I'd love purples and
56. 2:45lilacs and a whole big spray with that.
57. 2:49Mommy, that sounds amazing. My mom loved
58. 2:51her flowers so much that by the time
59. 2:53she'd finished talking about her
60. 2:55flowers, I could just see we are we
61. 2:57brightness in her a wee bit and it made
62. 2:59me dead happy. Um anyway, the next thing
63. 3:03she said, "I'm just thinking what I
64. 3:05could wear." And I thought, "Mom, you're
65. 3:07a laugh. You sound like you're getting
66. 3:10ready for a we night out with my daddy."
67. 3:13And she said, "Open that wardrobe
68. 3:15there." She said, "And lift me out my
69. 3:17favorite outfit." And I thought, "Flip,
70. 3:20I like that favorite outfit." So, like a
71. 3:22good daughter, what did I do? I opened
72. 3:24the wardrobe and I pushed it to the back
73. 3:26[laughter]
74. 3:28and I lifted out the first outfit and
75. 3:31she went, "Not that one." And I put it
76. 3:33back and then I lifted out another one
77. 3:34and she went, "Heather, not that one.
78. 3:37You know the one I like. You know the
79. 3:39lovely jacket I like. It's cream and
80. 3:41it's got a wee bit of green in it and
81. 3:43brown." And I thought I felt a bit
82. 3:45guilty then. So the wardrobe went and I
83. 3:48lifted it out
84. 3:50and she went, "That's the one I want to
85. 3:52wear." And I went, "But I like that one,
86. 3:55Mommy. I want that one." Well, you're
87. 3:57not getting it because that's the one I
88. 3:59want to wear in my coffin. And I, "But
89. 4:01mommy, what about the worms?" And I
90. 4:03thought, "Oh my word. I've just said
91. 4:05worms." Verbal complete diarrhea. I said
92. 4:08worms. Well, mommy looked at me and I
93. 4:11looked at her. Well, I can't tell you
94. 4:13the laughter. I mean, the most
95. 4:15inappropriate laughter we had. And we
96. 4:17went into fits and fits of laughing on
97. 4:20that mo on that afternoon.
98. 4:23My mom's mood lift it so much all
99. 4:26because of stupid talking about worms.
100. 4:28Uh but anyway, the mood lift it and uh
101. 4:32she went on to talk about I wonder what
102. 4:35she going to wear shoes. I said what do
103. 4:37you think? What about shoes? What do I
104. 4:38want shoes in my coffin for? I don't
105. 4:40need them. I've just got white socks.
106. 4:42She liked her white socks. And then I
107. 4:44said, "Well, is there anything else?"
108. 4:46"Well, I was wondering could you blow
109. 4:48dry my hair?" And I went, "Really?" Uh
110. 4:51yeah, when I come back, get it all
111. 4:53sorted. You can blow dry my hair, make
112. 4:55sure my powder's on, make sure my
113. 4:57eyebrow pencils on, and I want my
114. 4:59Heather shimmer lipstick. I thought,
115. 5:02"Mommy, you're such a los." So anyway, I
116. 5:05just thought, "Mom's mood has changed so
117. 5:08much. All because of her creative
118. 5:10mindset. Her creative mindset actually
119. 5:13started lifting her day so much. She
120. 5:17even went on to go, "Would you let me
121. 5:19out of bed here a we minute and put me
122. 5:21in my wheelchair because I want to sort
123. 5:22out this sock drawer?" And I went,
124. 5:24"What?" So, she wanted to go and sort
125. 5:26out a we sock drawer. And then she
126. 5:28started talking about her country and
127. 5:29western music and what she was going to
128. 5:31watch that night on the telly. And you
129. 5:33know what? All I can say is my mom's
130. 5:36mood lifted so much. All because of
131. 5:39creativity that day. Now, mom's
132. 5:41circumstances, they hadn't changed, but
133. 5:43we Mommy was still dying. She was still
134. 5:46grieving, leaving the people that she
135. 5:48was going to be leaving behind. She was
136. 5:50still breaking her heart because she was
137. 5:51going to have to leave my daddy the love
138. 5:53of her life. She was still grieving or
139. 5:56independent. She was having to deal
140. 5:58every single day with pain and
141. 6:00discomfort. She was looking at herself
142. 6:02in the mirror and she didn't know the
143. 6:03girl that she saw. She was she was
144. 6:05dealing with all of that. But I believe
145. 6:08100% that creativity changed the course
146. 6:11of my mom's day.
147. 6:14And All I can say is that I do believe
148. 6:17that creativity is a way to communicate
149. 6:20without pressure. I believe that
150. 6:22creativity is a way to express stress
151. 6:27and anxiety with a good outcome at the
152. 6:30end.
153. 6:32Everybody here, every single one of us
154. 6:34have had stressful days. Like I think
155. 6:36most people have. If you haven't, well,
156. 6:38good on you. That's all I can say. But
157. 6:41uh everybody here has had stressful
158. 6:42days. So I had a really stressful day
159. 6:46some about April time. I'd start at a
160. 6:48new job in social services and I can
161. 6:52tell you now I come home that day and I
162. 6:55saw creativity at work and it blew my
163. 6:57mind. I came in I thought my head was
164. 7:01actually going to lift off my shoulders.
165. 7:03I thought I can't do this job. It's too
166. 7:04much responsibility. Like I'm not
167. 7:06capable. I can't do it. I can't do it.
168. 7:08Plunk my handbag down. sat down at the
169. 7:10table and there's always paint and bits
170. 7:12of rubbish sitting at our table. My
171. 7:14partner's in here. He can verify that
172. 7:16there's always a mess on the table. But
173. 7:18there was paper and there was watercolor
174. 7:20paint and a bit of water. I sat down
175. 7:22with my phone. I was so stressed out. I
176. 7:24was like got the paint and I started
177. 7:27blobbing at the paint. Got up, made a
178. 7:30cup of tea, came back blobbing at the
179. 7:31paint, doodling, doodling, just thinking
180. 7:34about this job that was stressing the
181. 7:35life out of me. I mean, I just I
182. 7:37actually, to be honest, I felt like my
183. 7:39heart was coming out my mouth. I just
184. 7:40thought, I can't go back into this job.
185. 7:42I just can't do it. And uh so I got up,
186. 7:45made myself the tea, sat the tea down,
187. 7:47kept painting, thought, what am I making
188. 7:50for the dinner, the stress was there,
189. 7:51but I kept painting and I didn't know
190. 7:53what I was painting. I was just doing
191. 7:55blobs, right? And at this point, hello,
192. 7:58I can see you as well now. Hello.
193. 8:00>> [laughter]
194. 8:01>> And uh but at this point I actually
195. 8:03looked down and as I was drawing around
196. 8:07this painting I started feeling a bit
197. 8:09more relaxed and the next thing what
198. 8:12came out
199. 8:14that I couldn't actually believe it. It
200. 8:17was it was actually blew my mind because
201. 8:20this was just blobs and I started
202. 8:23drawing round up. I without a shadow of
203. 8:26a doubt was 100% sure that my creative
204. 8:30mind had communicated how I was feeling
205. 8:34all the stress and anxiety and probably
206. 8:37feelings whatever it was and the worry.
207. 8:40I mean I just couldn't believe it. There
208. 8:42it was looking straight at me. You see
209. 8:45at the end of the day guys what I'm
210. 8:48telling everybody it's not rocket
211. 8:49science. Everybody probably knows what
212. 8:52I'm saying. But I do believe that
213. 8:54creativity can change the course of your
214. 8:56day. And all I really want to say is if
215. 9:00you can live your best creative life
216. 9:04every single day, get up in the morning
217. 9:06and think, do you know what? How can I
218. 9:08best live a creative day? How can I best
219. 9:11just like my mom, just like my mom, you
220. 9:14know, live in a creative mindset as best
221. 9:18you can? For me personally,
222. 9:22I came through an awful lot of grief and
223. 9:25stress and worry and loss within a very
224. 9:28short space of time. Within 13 months, a
225. 9:30lot of stuff had happened in my life.
226. 9:32And I thought I was literally going to
227. 9:34be completely swallowed up by it. But I
228. 9:37took a leaf out of my mommy's book and I
229. 9:40put my faith in Jesus Christ first. I
230. 9:44then kept the people that I love close
231. 9:46to me and the people that I love and
232. 9:48that was it. And I always always kept
233. 9:51from that day on a paintbrush in one
234. 9:53hand and a notebook and a pen in the
235. 9:56other to write every story and poem. And
236. 10:01you know what? I'm very dyslexic. Did I
237. 10:03ever think I could write poetry that
238. 10:05people would actually enjoy? No, I did
239. 10:07not indeed. But I just kept writing and
240. 10:09I just kept going and it made me feel
241. 10:10better. So I just want to inspire
242. 10:13everybody today. Do you know what you
243. 10:15see? If you if you have a story, write
244. 10:18it. Buy the really fancy pen and the
245. 10:21really fancy notebook. Write your story.
246. 10:23Write your poem. You know, I wrote a
247. 10:25story with my we grandson. That's
248. 10:27something that you can leave a mark with
249. 10:28as well. Buy your lot block of clay.
250. 10:32Join a dance class, sing in the choir,
251. 10:35and then maybe join a choir. But all I
252. 10:37can say is use whatever creative mindset
253. 10:40that you have. Everybody knows what
254. 10:42their thing is. Go to it. And if it's
255. 10:45something different, give it a we go.
256. 10:47All I can say is that just like my mom
257. 10:50and maybe even me with my circumstances,
258. 10:52I still had to go into that job the next
259. 10:54day because of bills to pay.
260. 10:56Circumstances sometimes don't change.
261. 10:58But all I can say, and I completely 100%
262. 11:02believe it, that creativity can change
263. 11:05the course of your day. Thank you.