281. Unlocking Happiness and Healing Through Art: A Conversation with Karen DeLoach

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This is happiness solved with America's happiness coach, Sandee Sgarlata.

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Hello and thank you for joining us today. I'm so happy you're here. Happiness Solved is the place where we explore everything you need to become the best possible version of you. This is Sandee Sgarlata, and today I've got some exciting news for our dedicated listeners. We've just launched our exclusive members only portal.

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This is your ticket to a world of additional content designed to deepen your understanding and engagement with the happiness solved mission. To learn more about all of the exciting benefits, stay tuned until the end of the episode where I will explain in greater detail. For those interested now, head over to Happinesssolved supercast.com. Today is another amazing conversation, so let's get started.

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Karen DeLoach, what an honor and a privilege to have you on my show today. Thank you so much for joining me. How are you? I'm great and it is wonderful to be here. You are an amazing podcaster with a great result, and it's a privilege for me to be here with you.

00:01:26
Well, thank you. Thank you. So for the audience, we have the pleasure of speaking with Karen, who is an artist, an art mentor, actor and creativity specialist. She teaches art in college using the textbooks that she's written. And the really cool thing about what she does is that with her courses and her classes, they help people overcome negative mindsets, perfectionistic paralysis, painful past traumas, and crushed right.

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Brain stagnation through a program called art as self therapy, wellness through creativity. We're going to dive into all that because the perfectionistic paralysis that right there, I think we could have a two hour conversation about, right? Absolutely. But before we dive into all of this, tell us about your backstory. How did you get to this place in your life where you're empowering so many people through your skill and your craft?

00:02:22
Well, thank you for that. I've always been interested in art. I was the child with the crayons on the wall, coloring on the walls. And my mom, of course, was not happy. And they spent a lot of time scrubbing walls, not knowing that eventually I was going to be doing murals.

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I feel like there's hints about our creative life when we're very young. I was doing plays and turning the playground into a space station. And the heroes were the astronauts and the space invaders and then the damsels in distress because it was the 50s. So then when I went into my, went back to school for filmmaking, theater was my minor, and I've always loved being involved in the theater. So a lot of times.

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You can get these hints from your early childhood of what kind of person is your right brain creative. And I've been an artist and a filmmaker and actor, but I also experienced the negative feedback from my college years. I could draw. I had good drawing instruction. But when it came time for painting, they just wanted me to do abstract expressionists, and I wanted to paint people and scenery, and it wasn't acceptable.

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They used four letter words to describe my painting to the point where it literally shut me down. For 20 years, I couldn't finish a painting. I ended up in sculpture versus for graduate school. And I still love working with clay and sculpture, but I eventually had babies, wanted to do their portraits, and I couldn't complete. I couldn't make myself go through the finish line for these paintings.

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And it was so subconscious, I didn't understand. I'd come into agreement with their professor's opinion about me and my work. And it took getting mentored and having someone who had been to the Chicago Art Institute, who taught me the fundamentals of actually how to paint, that gave me the confidence I needed and the skills I needed to then take my work where I wanted it to go, which isn't necessary if you're doing abstractions. But when you want things to look like a person or look like a place or a thing, then those are necessary skills. And so that's not only made me a better artist, but it's made me a better teacher.

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And I love sharing with people so that they, too, can develop the best techniques and skills for what they want to do as a creative. And in the last couple of years, because of some experiences I've had, I can tell these stories if we have time, of people. And seeing how the power of art heals, heals them mentally, emotionally, and physically. And I just see more and more, especially in our AI driven culture, which is very left brain logical, and it has incredible uses. Obviously, it's not something we want to run away from, but not be afraid of either, as we realize no AI can replace our right brain brilliance.

00:05:25
Half of our brain was made for creativity. And your topic is about happiness. Well, guess what? When you engage in the creative arts of any kind, or look at them, you release that happiness. Chemical serotonin.

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And that's just miraculous to me that there is literal science to back the power of art to heal. Wow. Oh, for sure. Because I know for me, I'm a creative person, but not necessarily artistically. Now I'm starting to tap into that, because, Karen, when I was in the fifth grade, my favorite class was art class.

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And I remember doing this project, and I was so proud of this project. It was some sort of whatever they have you do in fifth grade. But I was so proud of it. And I'll never forget showing the teacher what I did. And I was so proud.

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And at that age that I was ten or eleven, because I was a young, I was in kindergarten at the age of four, and then I turned five. So I was very young the whole time, through my years of elementary school, middle school, high school. So you really need that positive reinforcement. Well, I showed the art teacher my project, and she looked at me and she said, this is terrible. This is terrible.

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And just like, I literally was, like, trying not to cry. It broke my heart.

00:07:07
I'm so sad that that happened. Right, sorry. Because you know what? That little girl whose heart got broken because our right brains are so sensitive and they're sitting there, half of our brain, trivialized, wounded, unutilized, when it is still there to be accessed to bring us into the full mental clarity and brilliance we were created to have. So that creativity that you experienced is still there and getting healing for those wounds and shutting down that left brain bully that says, you're not good enough.

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Remember Mrs. So and so weren't good enough and just saying, shut up. I'm going to do this, and I'm going to learn how to be the best I can be. But creativity is for everyone, not just the artists of the world. We don't understand that this is part of who we are and who we were created to be.

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And so as I've been studying the research and studying the science behind it, I get more and more excited and passionate because it's real. And people can have their life changed and their mental capacity, their emotional release. Because if this happiness chemical is ready to be released, every time we look at beauty, look at a sunset, look at a beautiful painting, have gorgeous things around us, or even beautiful clothing, or the things that bring us joy, that serotonin is being released. And so the more aware we are, the more purposeful we are about looking and enjoying what's around us, the happier we are going to be. Yeah, well, I know.

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And for me, I shoved that down so deep that it wasn't even until in the last 510 years, I don't recall, that it came up. And I was like, I'm like, interesting. So just within the last six months, I bought, like, a watercolor set. And I was like, you know what? I'm only going to spend no more than $25 because I have this habit of, oh, I'm going to do this, and I'll just buy everything, and it'll never get used.

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I was like, you know what? I'll spend, like, $25. I'll get the minimum. And I watched a YouTube course. Just on YouTube.

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I pulled up, and I tell you what, it felt so good. It felt so good because it does.

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You're just activating parts of your brain that you're not used to using. It's true. You know, I just to give you an example of what I've studied, five year olds, okay, you ask a room of five year olds, do you want to color? Do you want to dance? Do you want to sing?

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Do you want to bang on the drums? Do you want to do a little act in the yard? Almost 100% are going to say yes. But you ask a room of 15 year olds the same question, maybe one will say yes as they're listening to led zeppelins on their headphones, right? Music from my generation.

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But what happens in those ten years is not that it's gone, that that same desire and passion for the creative world has left them. It's just been trivialized. It's been crushed, hurt, wounded, all the things like you experienced. But also the left brain skills are what's being developed and tested and driven into us as what's important, what's going to get us a job, how we're going to pass these tests in order to get into the right colleges, in order to get the good jobs. All of this is left brain, and I'm not against the left brain.

00:10:52
Thank God for our left brain. Oh, yeah. Schedules without our left brain. But it's a matter of catching up to our left brain training, because the more interconnections that we have, the dendrites that are built, the neural pathways, then the better we are thinking, the better we're problem solving. And you're talking about perfectionism.

00:11:15
Perfectionism. Guess what? Is a left brain trait? Okay, what if the main thing wasn't the product? Because isn't that what perfectionism is?

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I'm so focused on the end result, the product, that I can't, number one, enjoy the process. When you bought those watercolors, you weren't thinking, I'm going to make a Vincent van Gogh watercolor. Right out of the know, you knew in your heart that you were going to experiment. You were going to maybe fail, maybe try again. You're going to have this process and fully enjoy and be engaged in every step of the way.

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Joy, happiness is released serotonin released. It's a win win. And maybe you even end up with a Christmas present for somebody who loves you and wants it. I can't buy Christmas presents in my family. I can be totally honest with you.

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Every member of my family expects to get a handmade present, either out of clay or out of a drawing or a painting or a print. So it's a done deal for me. I have to be creative all the time, and I have to practice what I preach. I just finished a giant painting and just won a show. I mean, I have to keep myself.

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I'm not just a teacher. I'm an artist, right? These are the things that drive my passion. And when I teach, I don't just teach left brain art history. Have you ever talked to somebody who took an art history course that was so boring they slept through the slides?

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I want to cry. Same thing with your teacher that told you your artwork was bad. You're just like, what are you doing here? You're hurting people's lives. When art history, learning what our culture has developed through its history and being able to find an is.

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I come from rural South Carolina, and my students, most of them haven't had an art class before and probably aren't going. I'm their one shot. So I consider it my passion and my dream to not just let them see these masterpieces from our history, but find a personal opinion. What do you like? They have an opinion about what music they like, right?

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Or what movies they like. Why can't they have an opinion about what art they like? They get credit for going to a gallery museum. Many of them have never even been even to local ones. And I make them go make them.

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Most of them end up having such a positive experience that they can't believe how much they've improved in their own skills just in these couple of months that I have with them. So that's what my book is. My book, art history and appreciation was written for them, for people that don't ever identify as artists, and they don't want to know every artist from art history. And they want to know some local people, maybe some contemporary artists that they can relate to that maybe have their skin color or their national background, and they, wow, this is somebody I can relate to and look at work or photographers that have something personal that they're showing that is from their own angst. These kids are like, what I can see, art that shares my pain and my passion and what I've gone through, my struggles.

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And so it is so beautiful what can happen when people get excited about their own creative life. And it has so many ways to be manifested, even musically. Or you know that scientists are saying that when you sing in the shower, you are actually developing these connections between life brain, and you can get this thought that solves a problem, just singing in the shower, because you don't care what anybody says or who's listening, right? You're just singing, having a good time. And there's neural pathways developing and serotonin being released.

00:15:14
You feel good. You're starting your day with a song on your lips, and it's beautiful. Love it, love it. So what can people do to help connect the right brain and the left brain? Is there specific exercises or are there specific types of art that's simple that you can do?

00:15:33
I mean, I have like a mandala coloring book because a mandala is like a spiritual symbol. And then I have these colored pencils and I'll play around with that. So what kind of things can people do that you. That's a wonderful example. That's a wonderful example.

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Here's something very simple and everybody can do this is take a walk. A stroll. Not with your Fitbit watch, which is, guess what, left brain. Right. It's not about your aerobics time.

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It also only takes between 15 and 20 minutes. This doesn't have to be hours a day. But on this walk, you're going to look around, you're going to smell the freshness of the air. You're going to notice the birds twittering. You're going to see the tree trunks, because maybe there's no leaves anymore, or there's crunching underneath your feet, or you find a park and you hear children playing.

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And there is something supernatural that happens as you just let your mind relax. Your body is just strolling. It's not on a power walk. It's looking and noticing the clouds, the sky, the weather, the temperature. You're listening, you're smelling, you're tasting, you're touching.

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Those are all connecting. The actual walk is left brain, and observation is right brain. Now that you could take that to the next level and perhaps bring a sketchbook or a journal. Sit on a bench for a few minutes and just let your thoughts just flow. Just let it go.

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Flow. Not purposeful. I'm writing a chapter of my book. It is still creative, it's still right brain. But it's a different thing when you just let it go or you doodle.

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You just bring that sketchbook and you're not going to draw the children. You're seeing. You don't want to draw strangers children without their permission. Not a good idea. But just letting your pen or pencil just flow and see what happens.

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Or outline the leaf that just fell and draw around that leaf on your paper. It's so easy to restore and stir up your right brain. It's amazingly easy. But it needs to happen every day, 1520 minutes. Purposefully.

00:17:51
Just what can I do today? And there's so many ways. Percussion, music, singing. I'm a worshipper. I love putting on a favorite song and just dancing.

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I mean, nobody has to see me dancing. I'm almost 70 years old, so nobody needs to see me dancing. But I love it. I touch base with my creator and have a great time. That's one of my joys, is dancing.

00:18:17
I embarrassed all my kids in church when they were little dancing. They're older now. Nobody needs to see that. My husband's a musician and a singer and a writer and also painter. So we've got a lot of creativity.

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I'm in Germany right now visiting my sons, who are musicians. As musicians, they do their own videos for their music videos. One of them is also writing children's books. They've married beautiful german women and given me a couple of beautiful grandbabies. And they're so creative with these children.

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I just love seeing that pass on generationally being purposeful. They're going to get plenty of left brain training, without a doubt, especially in all of our school systems. What they're missing is that keeping that right brain vibrant and alive and releasing that joy and happiness in our lives. I love it. Dancing, that's my thing, too.

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And I always like to tell people, you have to have that one song. What is that one song that just like your theme song, right? And I know I have my theme song. And when I hear that playing, I sing it and I dance like nobody's watching because I can't really hold a good tune when I'm singing. But I don't care, right?

00:19:44
It just fills you up and. It. Literally changes your state of being number one, right? It can reduce your stress, change your state of being. But the benefits for your brain, I really wasn't even aware of.

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I know. It's really been so revolutionary this last couple of years. As I've studied the science, I'm like, I got science to back up. That's crazy, right? Brain people and be off the beaten path.

00:20:13
We're already thinking outside the box, and I don't apologize for that. The problem is we now have a culture that can have that left brain. A lot of the jobs replaced with AI. So people are even older people that have been in their positions for a long time and achieved a great deal of success or are in fear what's going to happen next. And I get a lot of my writing from Chat GPT for goodness sakes.

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I'm trying to embrace the technology, not shy away from it. But it still will never replace the right brain, creativity and the soul of a human being. It just won't. We don't have to be afraid of it. No, we don't.

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And then find ways to be your best creative so that you are operating in that problem solving outside the box that I can't keep up with. Even the art programs, they can make beautiful pictures, and you can look at it and say, all right, it's a beautiful picture, what's missing? And somehow inside, intuitively, you know, there's that soul part missing. That's right. It's just a computer did it.

00:21:26
That's right. But it doesn't replace us at all. Another thing can do is to purchase art for their own walls, to find work that they like, and there is no criticism. Just because you're not trained and don't have a trained eye doesn't mean you can't find beautiful things to put on your wall that really touch your heart. It's really about your life and what you put around you.

00:21:50
So those are pretty simple things that people can do right away to bring more joy, more creativity into your life. As far as healing, it is truly miraculous the way healing art can bring healing. Yeah. And how does that work? How does that work?

00:22:10
Because I was just thinking again about because you talked about helping to heal painful past traumas. How does that work? Is it just the reconnecting with the brain? Is it how the right and the left brain communicate? Or is it more than that?

00:22:23
Well, there's dendrites. I don't know if you studied about bad thoughts and bad words and bad experiences, create these almost look like dead trees that are in our brain called dendrites. And that as we reduce those thoughts and don't allow them freedom, they literally dry up and go away. And as we replace them with positivity, with saying, I am a creative and I do have a creative half of a brain that I'm going to utilize and find what brings me joy, then it's going to literally replace the negativity that was there in the brain. Do I understand it?

00:23:01
No, I'm not a scientist, but they do explain that this really truly happens. I think it takes 21 days. You literally can replace negative thoughts in 21 days. And I know I work with people individually, one on one. When I have someone in my program, I meet with them three to five times a week.

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It's really up to them between 15 and 20 minutes a day because I'm leading them on this path for their greatest right brain. Brilliant process to find out their best brain, their best thinking, their best way to live their life. Love it. Wow. I've seen art heal people.

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And if you want to hear just two quick stories. Yes, absolutely. Really specific examples. I had a young teenager. He had been really suffering academically because he was not just ADHD, but he also was dyslexic and wasn't having success.

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His mom brought him into my studio to take classes from me, and he just thrived in the arts. He could draw, he could paint. He started winning competitions, having success. And matter of fact, this 1 October, he won not just best in his age group, but he was 18. He won best in show for wow.

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He did in my studio. Three months later, he had a traumatic brain injury and a stroke that caused him to be paralyzed on the right side. Oh, my goodness. They didn't even know if he would live. But four months later, his mom brought him back to my studio.

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He couldn't really walk. He couldn't talk. He couldn't communicate. And his right hand, they were working hard to keep it from curling up. In a very short time, I was able to teach him to draw left handed and where he could start writing left handed.

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And it wasn't very long after that that his neurosurgeon called me and he said, I've never called someone's heart teacher before. What are you doing with David? Because not only is he stronger with his weak hand than I'm in, I'm a surgeon. But he is improving on his right side because of wow. And wow.

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He now can talk, he can walk. He still is weaker with his right hand, but he still can write and draw with his left hand. And he's living a quality life that I believe. And according to his neurosurgeon, the art helped heal him. I believe it absolutely.

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I'm chills right now. That's just amazing. Wow. And I still know this young man, and I'm in his life. And as I listened to him have a complete conversation with me, I just wanted to cry.

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I was so fully over for him. But I also have a student who is an adult student doing great in art. When she got diagnosed with stage four breast cancer, she was only given like a six month lifeline and immediately started going into all the radiation therapy and chemotherapy and had a radical mastectomy and rebuilding. And I was preparing for a great big ceramic room installation piece. And I knew she was good.

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And I brought her into my studio and I said, help me make this show. She didn't even know if she was going to make it in nine months, but she started working every time that she could. If she wasn't done under by all these treatments, she would just be working with her hands, working with her hands. And sure enough, she was there for the show, worked the 17 days. I mean, we made porcelain cakes and candies and cupcakes and all these beautiful things and had a whole show and even had refinished furniture.

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People came in thinking they were going to buy chocolates, but they were all made out of porcelain. Not only was she there, but she's now cancer free and has been now cancer free for ten years, nine years, I guess, so far. Wow. And she says she did all the medical things, but it was what was going on for her mentally and emotionally was something to live for and to hope for, be part of every day and to see that show and her name as a creator was huge. Oh, yeah.

00:27:26
She's still one of my best friends. I mean, you don't get over that kind of thing. That's right. This is life changing stuff that I'm talking about one person at a time. So that's my dream and my passion, and I'm just happy to share it with your audience.

00:27:43
Oh, my gosh. That is so incredible. Karen, this has been just amazing eye opening for me, for sure. And I know it's going to be life changing for my audience. Is there anything else that you want to talk about before we finish up today?

00:27:57
Well, I would love to have people contact me.

00:28:02
I have a three part free pop up podcast that I love to give away, and they can learn more about this, have more ideas on what they can do, maybe to excite their own creativity. And if they wanted to reach out to me, a way to book with me, a call to communicate and see if we can be a match, and. How do they get a hold of you? What's the best way to reach.

00:28:34
Gift? Awesome. Awesome. And her Facebook group and LinkedIn and everything will be in the show notes as well. So if you're driving, don't write that down.

00:28:45
Wait till you get home and pull it up and go through the show notes and you can reach her there. As well. Karen, thank you so much. This has been such a delight for me, and I can't wait to start doing some more of my things now that I know how it really improves, because the older we get, you got to be doing something really to keep that brain going. Yeah, absolutely.

00:29:07
And I knew right away. I said, she's a podcaster, but she's got multiple creative gifts. So you've already shared about painting and coloring and dancing, and obviously you're a creative podcaster. So I just applaud, you know, inviting the right brain creative into your own life. So you're a good.

00:29:29
Thank you, Karen, so much. And we'll definitely have to have you back at another time. I don't say that very often, my audience, I don't say that very often, but this is the type of subject that we could just talk about for a very long time. So we'll definitely have you back maybe in about six months or so and do a part two. Perfect.

00:29:50
Thank you so much. All right, have a great day. Thank you. And thank you for listening, everyone.

00:30:07
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