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Welcome to the Nimble Youth podcast, where we provide expert insights and valuable resources for parents navigating the complexities of their children's mental health. We empower parents to nurture healthy minds in children, teens, and young adults through real conversations.
Our team of seasoned professionals, including physicians, therapists and educators, delve into pressing topics, share research-based strategies, and offer practical advice for fostering mental and emotional well-being within your family.
Welcome back to Nimble Youth, the podcast where we explore the emotional lives of children and teens and look for practical ways parents, educators, and communities can help young people become healthier and more resilient. I'm your host, Matthew Butterman. When we talk about youth mental health, we understandably spend a lot of time talking about problems like anxiety, depression, loneliness, substance use, attention difficulties, social media, and the enormous pressures young people face. Today, I want to approach the subject from a somewhat different direction. What happens when we give young people a place to create?
Matt (host):Not to earn a grade, not to win an award, not even necessarily to become an artist, but just to create. My guest today, Rafael McMaster, believes that creativity can become a gateway to something much bigger. Self awareness, emotional resilience, mindfulness, connection, and a stronger sense of who we are. Rafael is an artist, creative director, author, educator, and youth mental health advocate. He is the founder and executive director of Indivisible Arts, a nonprofit based in Southern California that uses arts and creativity as vehicles for teaching young people practical tools for emotional well-being.
Matt (host):His programs combine creative expression with concepts such as awareness, acceptance, intention, gratitude, compassion, forgiveness, and connection. And what fascinates me about Rafael's approach is that the art itself isn't necessarily the destination, it is in fact the vehicle. Rafael, welcome to Nimble Youth.
Rafael McMaster:Thank you so much, Matthew. It's awesome to be here with you today.
Matt (host):So before we get into the program, I'd like to start a little bit with your own personal background. You came from a professional creative background and ultimately made youth development and mental well-being a major focus of your life. So, so how did that transition happen and was there a particular experience when you realized that art could be used for something much larger than than simply artistic expression?
Rafael McMaster:Sure thing. Sure thing. Well, I've been so fortunate to have the creative arts be, something that has given me a life beyond my wildest dreams. I graduated with a degree in fashion design, went on to become a designer, a web designer designing skateboards, snowboards, launching fashion lines with Puma, so many great things. Creativity has given me amazing career.
Rafael McMaster:And twelve years ago, when I stepped away from that career, getting into recovery and having my own sobriety in recovery, I realized that there were core fundamental tools and mindsets that were integral to a healthy well-being. And at the same time, I had already started a nonprofit, Indivisible Arts, whose purpose was to teach everything that I've learned about creativity to others, to the local youth, in part because the local elementary schools had no art teacher. The city I was living in had no galleries, right? So there was a deficit in this creative space that really spoke to my heart. And so I then dedicated my life to service twelve years ago.
Rafael McMaster:And in founding the nonprofit, we were focused really on teaching the creative arts with some mindfulness stuff. We do visualizations at the beginning of class meditations by another name. And then the pandemic happened. And, you know, with a couple local tragedies that really hit us all in the heart here locally, and then seeing, you know, the nature of what was happening on a national scale and realizing that this is really just the tip of the iceberg, and we're not going to fully understand the nature of the impact for years and years down the line and if what we're seeing right now in the current mental health epidemic is just the tip of the iceberg, well my guess is a pretty big iceberg and the titanic that we are as a society is hitting that iceberg. There is no escaping that.
Rafael McMaster:But what we've figured out how to do is build life rafts, build life rafts based, you know, built upon a basic toolkit for mindset, beginning with mindful awareness, and going through so many of the basics, which I think we'll talk about later on today, and then figuring out how to teach that through the creative arts, so that it's sticky and it's resonant, you know, when a young person or anyone for that matter, but when a young person's creating, they enter into this flow state, the state where they're present and focused, but not thinking. And it's in that flow state that we're able to transmit these core fundamental concepts like mindful awareness, radical acceptance, connection to a higher power of one's own understanding, very very powerful fundamental basic you know mindset toolkits and our efficacy and the success we're having with this, I believe it's because we're speaking to a deeper sense of that young person and not just their cognitive rational mind that is sitting in a therapist chair a little bit freaked out, a little bit not knowing how to feel and trying to think to themselves, what do I need to say to this person in order for me to get out of here okay, not get in any trouble more, why am I here, what is wrong with me, all of these, you know, these judgments and these feelings of less than, maybe shame, guilt, fear, any of those things take us out of this flow state where we're more openly and fully receptive to the opportunity that comes with these formidable but basic mental tools that we call the fundamental life tools.
Matt (host):Yeah. So, for someone hearing about indivisible arts for the first time, can you describe what happens when a young person walks through your door? What would they actually see?
Rafael McMaster:Yeah, it's awesome. So, our creative laboratory that we have here in Hermosa Beach is called Resin. If you're ever in the LA area, we're just twenty minutes south of LAX. So if you fly in, you've got a layover, please come and visit us. And what you'll see here is dozens of young people creating freely without judgment with so much enjoy becomes this buzzing hive mind of youth creativity and imagination.
Rafael McMaster:And we have a music studio, a fashion design center, three d design center, photography equipment, a spray paint alley, traditional painting, watercolors, fine art, all pretty much every medium you could imagine. We have it here. And so, the kids come in and you'll see a couple dozen teenagers mentoring and being partnered up with a couple dozen younger kids that are between the ages of seven and 14, really embodying and grounding in, anchoring in this heart of service and this practice of community and connection through service. And so you'll see a, you know, a 17 year old teaching a 12 year old how to play guitar and getting nonprofit volunteer hours along the way in the process while going through this sense of becoming, because through teaching these tools, that might be one of the most effective ways that these teenagers learn the tools in a meeting meaningful embodied way, right? It's one thing to memorize something and then they later on forget it, but it's another thing to embody these tools, these basic mindset toolkit through teaching it to another young person while hanging out with them, painting, playing guitar, spray painting.
Rafael McMaster:And so, your
Matt (host):program teaches what you call the fundamental life tools, things like awareness, acceptance, intention, gratitude, compassion, forgiveness and connection. Those are pretty big concepts even for adults. So, how do you make something like acceptance or awareness meaningful to a say a 12 or 15 year old without making it sound like a lecture.
Rafael McMaster:Sure. Well, so one thing is we're really big on speaking from experience, strength and hope. So I'm never telling anybody what they should be thinking. In fact, we tell them take what resonates and leave the rest. But when they hear it from their peers, when a 17 year old who's new to the program is hearing from a 12 year old, I am not my thoughts, I'm the one having my thoughts.
Rafael McMaster:And at that point, an illustration goes on the projector behind me, is illustrated by another young person that is showing an eye watching the thought forms. And when they hear a 14 year old talk about how I was at soccer practice last night and the voices in my head were just getting frustrated at my teammates, but I know I'm not those voices and thoughts. I'm the one having them. So I said to myself, I don't wanna run a program that's frustrated all evening. You know what?
Rafael McMaster:I'm gonna be compassionate instead because it feels better to be kind than it does feel to be frustrated and judgmental. Right? When they hear from each other how to use these big concepts but basic concepts in a way that is practical in a language they can understand because it's peer to peer, it resonates on a different level. And what we're seeing is just, you know, not only are have we figured out how to build life rafts, if you will, through these basic tools, but now we figured out how to teach teens how to teach other teens how to build life rafts. And this is how I think we can achieve democratizing mental well-being by empowering young people or anyone empowering people to teach each other these concepts for free, and that these solutions don't need to be behind this paywall of necessary professional services that say we're the only one with answers.
Rafael McMaster:Now, professional services are amazing and important, and I'm not disparaging therapy was paid an amazing part of my life. However, if a parent has a kid who's struggling, oftentimes they think that's the only solution. They think, I don't know what to do, send them to therapy. Well, turns out there's a place they can go for free right now. They can go to streamofconsciousness.life where their kid can begin learning these tools for free.
Rafael McMaster:Parents can go to fundamentallifetools. Begin learning these tools. We have a program that will come out this fall, so this is fall twenty twenty six, so that site and this program will be available as of 10/01/2020. Parents can go and learn about these seven tools and learn how to teach them to their kids most importantly, And then parents can also go to the Aware Minds Project where they can, you know, learn more about awareness and awareness really we feel is like the master key. We're talking about the betterment of our society, if we're talking a shift in consciousness away from what we're seeing out there in the world, then this secret to mindset, that it's estimated that only 20 to 30% of people know about this concept and only 10 to 20 practice the concept.
Rafael McMaster:And yet it's the secret to mindset and long term sustained well-being. And, you know, whether it's a cognitive behavior therapist calling it cognitive noticing or a dialectical behavior therapist calling it wise mind or, you know, the Buddha calling it sati or Plato and Aristotle and Socrates talking about metacognition. It is this. I am not my thoughts. I am the one having the thoughts, and my thoughts are like programs, and it's on me on whether or not I'm gonna slow dance a negative unhelpful program or guide myself to something more helpful.
Rafael McMaster:And when a teen or anyone is dysregulated and voices in their heads are firing off and they're overwhelmed and they're hungry, angry, lonely, tired, it's really difficult to transform those thoughts if I'm identifying as the thoughts. Oh my gosh, I'm so angry. I'm so anxious. It's really hard to turn that battleship around from within that point of view, but if I am trained to look above it and say, woah, I am anxious, I'm starting to get nervous, and so I'm gonna begin breathing deeper, I'm gonna rely on that box breathing I learned over at that site, I'm going to calm myself because I have the tools to stay calm. We can get a completely different outcome in the pathway of the person's mindset and the conversation that they're having within their own mind.
Rafael McMaster:But so much of this and the seven tools and the six last tools that you stated really are unlocked by this power of awareness. And really what we're talking about awareness is the same thing that we're talking about with mindfulness, you know, and really to be more pinpointed, we're talking about metacognition and the challenge with mindfulness is the moment we say mindfulness in front of these youth, they roll their eyes and they say it.
Matt (host):Right.
Rafael McMaster:Yeah. Right. And and I'll be honest, the way mindfulness was explained to me the one time we had a guest speaker at the high school that I was at, I remember thinking like, what is the point of this? I don't know that I understand what the point is. I get it.
Rafael McMaster:I have observations. I get it. I have emotions. I'm supposed to define them. I'm not sure of what we're talking about here.
Rafael McMaster:But when we retranslate, we rebrand it from mindfulness to awareness so it has a shot at feeling like a fresh experience for this youngest generation, and because it's what the Eckhart Tolls and Joe Dispenses are using, the Jon Kappat Zinns are currently using out there. So when we call it awareness, Scottish, it's fresh shot the same way we don't say meditations, we call them visualization. So there's gonna have a fresh opportunity to translate it in a new way. And and when we explain, oh, this is the secret to mindset, you know, a shot at controlling your own mind, Jedi mind trading, Minecraft, this is the pathway. Oh, okay.
Rafael McMaster:What is this? And then they hear about it from a 15 year old or a 12 year old or a 17 year old instead of me and it sinks in because it turns out that this basic arithmetic isn't complex. It's simple. But if a person can go 40 I didn't I didn't understand this till I was 35. When a person goes thirty five years of their life never hearing about it and all of a sudden somebody comes along with kind of a a perspective, a paradigm shifting concept, it takes a second to be like, are you sure?
Rafael McMaster:Because I've been listening to these voices for thirty five years and they sound just like me. It takes a second. But if we can get it to them when they're 10 years old, we find that they adopt it pretty quickly and they go running with it and they're pretty quick to wanna be able to share it with their peers because knowledge is power.
Matt (host):Yeah, for sure. And so, really appreciate that aspect of your approach where you're saying that creativity and artistic expression is a complement to things like therapy or medication and I think that's very true. Know, those two modalities are not their full answer, right? So, help me understand why does creating something seem to open doors for young people that maybe ordinary conversation with a therapist or other healthcare provider does sometimes doesn't work? Sure.
Rafael McMaster:You know, so I've heard it said that thoughts are the language of the mind and emotions are the language of the body and art is the language of the soul. And whether a person wants to define it as their soul, their higher self, whatever your belief system, but there is this higher perspective that gets activated when I'm in this flow state of creating. If I'm in the flow state while creating and I'm present and focused but not thinking, well then what's doing all that stuff? So, one way to say, okay, that's my soul, alright, that's my deeper sense of being is doing this stuff. Okay, well now if we teach the tools when a person's in that state, we're having a dialogue with somebody's deeper self, their higher self, their soul, which is different than having a conversation with somebody's defensive ego because they feel less than that they have to go to a therapist, they're keeping it secret from their friends, therefore, there's some level of shame or guilt there.
Rafael McMaster:They overheard their parents, you know, arguing while doing the dishes, you know, insurance won't cover this, is this kid worth it, are they gonna get anything out of it? And now they feel like a burden, right? And they're going walking this entire path of mental health as a burden, not knowing, their parents not knowing that they overheard that conversation. And these are things that we unlock in in authentic conversations with youth, right, about why they do or don't like therapy. And there is there is a tremendous amount of resistance to therapy because there is a general dist rust of bigger systems were created by adults that intuitively a young person looks around and says, I don't think these big systems are doing too good.
Rafael McMaster:They look at the political landscape and they're like, I can't even begin. They look at the medical landscape and they listen to their parents complaining about how insurance is broken and the medical system's broken. That goes in there somewhere. Even though the parents don't think the kid is listening because they're in the back seat of the car, that goes in there somewhere. And that general sentiment multiplied by the fact that young people, especially teenagers, by the natures of the law of of being human automatically have like a counter culture backlash to what the older people are trying to sell.
Rafael McMaster:You put all that together and now it gets even deeper. Well, you know, we do a tremendous amount of work in the foster system and it's really important to our mission and personal to me. And and this is actually where this program was forged, teaching it as California State accepted English curriculum at a high school that's focused on supporting foster youth. So it's through teaching these tools and forging this program through that setting that we're able to distill it down to something so impactful that we know from experience that it can work in truly almost any environment and be of meaningful impact and support have it be metabolizable and understandable at many different levels. And one thing they'll say, or I've heard in multitude with foster youth, is the tremendous amount of disappointment and disillusionment that happens the day that they actually finally get close to the therapist and they finally feel close to an adult and here's this adult that they're always wishing they could have in their life and now they have one.
Rafael McMaster:And then something goes down and they try to reach out to them on a weekend or reach out to them outside of hours and they get the response back. I I can't talk to you outside of, you know Right. Hours. Right. I I can't be your friend.
Rafael McMaster:And the moment they realize like, wait a minute, you can't be there for me. You're actually just there because you're just paid to be there. That's heartbreaking. That is truly heartbreaking for a kid who is just trying to actually finally have a mentor or somebody they can lean on. And so this mentoring system we've built of a 12 year old being mentored by a 17 year old, you know, there's there's certain things about the basic societal human construct that's always been there for us since the beginning of human society that have been maybe stripped away a little bit because of the phone and disconnection and all the things that have transpired.
Rafael McMaster:Right? And so there's a lot of the basics that still ring true for us to pursue, which is people helping other people feels good, and it's the connective tissue that that is part of a healthy life and a healthy community that is glued together with purpose. Right. Right.
Matt (host):And and so so the creative process, I think, is also important because it often allows young people to communicate things that they may not have the words to describe and if you're into a therapist, you have to talk and I think for a lot of young people, especially I would say boys, they don't necessarily have those kinds of verbal communication skills but art allows them to communicate outside of those, right?
Rafael McMaster:A 100%, right. If I have the words for it, then I can speak about it or write about it. But, if I don't have the words for it, then that's what comes out in art and creativity. Oftentimes, really, it's not even about the output of what they're creating. In fact, it's very specifically not about the output of what they're creating, but the state they get into while they're creating.
Rafael McMaster:The more time a person spends in this place of soulful connection to themselves, reflectiveness, soul esteem, self esteem, flow state, creating, then the more that becomes second nature and that becomes something they can draw upon for the rest of their life. And if it's something they pursue in earnest and it becomes a place of self efficacy, self mastery, mastery of a craft, that becomes highly valuable because if they can master a craft in one place, then it gives them intuition on how to master crafts in other places. But even if it's not something that they pursue as a creative industry, let's say that I did, then a person who is developing the muscles of their own creativity ultimately gets supported by that later in life by, let's say, they become a business manager. Well, who are the best business managers? The creative ones.
Rafael McMaster:They become a lawyer. Who are the best lawyers? The creative ones. An accountant, trust me, you want a creative accountant. They're the ones who know how to navigate the system.
Rafael McMaster:Right? So creativity becomes a powerful tool no matter where a person goes with their career, their life, or or where they head off to. But where does a person go to the gym for their creativity? How does one practice the strength of creativity? The arts.
Rafael McMaster:Yep. Go do art. Yep. And even if a person doesn't see the direct correlation between sitting and drawing and how they might be creative downstream, it's all in there the same way a person might not see the direct correlation by doing a bicep curl and being good on the basketball court. It all adds up.
Rafael McMaster:It's all in there. And the more time I spend in my creative self, the more comfortable I am in my creative self.
Matt (host):You're flexing your creative muscles. Know, you're you're conditioning Yeah. There it So, let's talk a little bit about moving from consuming to creating because young people spend an enormous amount of time these days on social media consuming content. Right? Things like TikTok videos and Instagram posts, YouTube, all the the games and the endless feeds.
Matt (host):Your program asks them to just kind of reverse that relationship. So, instead of consuming everything, they're actually creating. And so, what changes psychologically when a young person goes from being a passive consumer to someone who says, I did this, you know, I made this.
Rafael McMaster:Yeah. It's empowerment. It's agency. Yeah. Right?
Rafael McMaster:It's it's self esteem. It's it's the right kind of pride. It's feeling good about something that I've done. We have more creators on this planet than ever before, in part because we have more people, but because every TikTok post that's created, Instagram post that's created, as much as we can look at the negative downside of addiction and consumption, on the other end, we can say, well, that's that's art direction, that's videography, that's storytelling. We have more young photographers, videographers, and directors on this planet, storytellers, than ever before.
Rafael McMaster:And so, how do we use that as part of the solution of how we get out of this mental health crisis? That is at the heart of what our strategy is, is how do we use the fact that these kids are professional students and they're professional storytellers, or rather they have more experience at storytelling, videography, the arc of a story, composing things, than any other generation like full stop, it's not even close. Okay. So, and then how do we also take their their really addiction to their screens and social media? How do we put all of those together in an elegant solution to move the ball forward and help transcend the consciousness that's creating this problem into a new perspective that can lead us out of beyond the iceberg.
Rafael McMaster:And that is really at the heart of our mission is how do we use these things that are all kind of some of the issues by putting creativity into it instead of consumption. How do we have that be the solution on how how that gets us out of this? And ultimately, that leads us towards is youth creating content that is really resonant and sticky with other youth where they're talking about consciousness, awareness, these tools, radical acceptance. And, you know, we've done the test to show that if it's done in their style in a way for that that's that works for their generation, then that's just as interesting and cool to them as any other message. They're happy to hear about these powerful tools of mindset.
Rafael McMaster:If it's shared with them from another peer, they're talking about mindset tools for self mastery, and unlocking performance and unlocking potential, instead of saying the mental health crisis, know, instead of it coming down from an older generation that has a specific language about it, let's rewrap it in a language of hope and potential. Let's bring it to them in a language they can hear where they can own this next generation of awareness rather than trying to force our generation of mindfulness upon them.
Matt (host):Exactly. Yeah. So, you used an interesting phrase in your work, you call it soul esteem, and so we're we're used to talking about self esteem, but what's what do you mean by soul esteem and and why is it so Yeah.
Rafael McMaster:Why young people? Listen, I wish there was another word for selfish. I guess self centered will work because our you know, all my problems today or most of them come from some expression of self. I I'm seeing how this thing is bothering me. I don't like this.
Rafael McMaster:What's the effect to me? Some sense of self is part of why I feel irritated, frustrated, or some sort of negative feeling towards something. Right? But then when I absolve myself of self, when I am in service to others, when I'm focused on others, when I'm connected to the bigger hole and the united oneness of all, all of a sudden, that frustration of self goes away and emulsifies. Yep.
Rafael McMaster:So this is part of the path forward and us training them on how to not be so self absorbed and that surrender to that releases us from a lot of those dramas and stresses and frustrations. Okay. So in a world where self is a path to suffering, and in a world where I have more reminders of myself than ever because I get that Instagram alert, I get that ping from this app, I've got dozens of phone dozens of apps on my phone that are perpetually reminding me of my me ness, of my selfness. So more self and the molding of the self may not be the path to transcend the the consciousness of the self. If I can bring this to another level of consciousness, which is at my soul, right, or whatever word a person feels comfortable with, higher self, those the higher self, those ones, they feel a little clunky for me, so I'm just saying soul because that feels easiest, right?
Rafael McMaster:But if I am the soul who's observing the thoughts, right, then I have the opportunity and the capacity to transcend the limiting beliefs, the stories, the intrusive negative thoughts. So the more we bring a person back home to the seat of their soul, it's through art being the language of the soul, whether it be through being the observer of the thoughts. When a person's being the observer of the thoughts, well what perspective are they coming from? It's the soul watching the brain or it's the higher self watching the brain. Right?
Rafael McMaster:So, now, let's develop soul esteem then. Let's connect to that identity, that sense of self, and let's let's be effortful in supporting and strengthening that position rather than continuing to strengthen the self even more. Right.
Matt (host):Right. So, in individual arts, you've worked with not only young people in traditional sort of after school programs, but also with foster youth and teens that are dealing with, you know, family problems, significant adversity, and often substance use challenges as well. So, working with those students, what has that taught you? What have those people taught you?
Rafael McMaster:Man, so many things. The first is this, is that there's always more to the story and I'm well served meeting every person that I don't know, especially young people that are in those situations with compassion and not judgment. My brain will make judgments is and not even on purpose. I'll have ideas about things when I'm meeting someone, you're hearing their story, you meet a kid who's in rehab. I'll go and speak at a bunch of youth rehabs.
Rafael McMaster:Right? It could be very easy for the mind to make any sense of judgment about any of those things, and truly bringing them just compassion and non judgment is the absolute starting point of that relationship to them and giving them the space where they people have a hard time healing when they feel judged, and when a person feels not judged, then they have a much easier time opening up and beginning to walk that path of healing. You know, I one week, we were teaching we'll focus on gratitude as a tool, the fourth of the tools, and we really focus on not just thinking about gratitude, but really feeling it, really feeling gratitude. That I feel that seems like the real point. I know people who make tons of gratitude lists, but they rush through it and it's like, what's the point?
Rafael McMaster:You're listing things, not feeling the energy of that. Right? So really teaching these kids how to feel that energy. And we do a we do a visualization here at Resilience, our creative lab, and and by the end of it, the kids are feeling in their hearts, their hands on their heart, they're thinking about things they're grateful for, feeling in their heart. They started to do this Stevie Wonder type glide back and forth.
Rafael McMaster:They're feeling it. And then I went and spoke at a teen rehab later on that night, did the exact same, you know, visualization, you know, visualize someone you love, something you love doing, feel it in your heart, and no movement, no connection to it. And then afterwards, I said, well, how how did you guys experience that? Were you able to feel that in their heart? And not a single person in the audience was able to feel that in their heart.
Rafael McMaster:Yeah. And and it was really eye opening, you know, and I'm not sure if it's, you know, drug usage that creates that disconnection to the heart where a person can't feel that or if a person can't feel that and so then they tend to go towards drug usage to try to, synthetically create that experience. Right. But whichever one it is, that was a very eye opening moment to say, shoot, I did the exact same visualization two times in the same day, pretty much same age groups, completely different experiences with it. And that was really eye opening as to, you know, the nature of addiction and drug addiction and the relationship to being able to feel our hearts.
Matt (host):Yeah. For sure. So, we're our podcast is based in North Carolina. You're in Southern California. We do have a lot of listeners in California, but many of our listeners aren't gonna have an invisible art studio just down the street.
Matt (host):Right? And so, suppose I'm a parent listening to this and thinking, God, my my child could really use more creativity, less screen time. So, what can I do in my own community this weekend? Should I go out and buy paint in an easel? Should I put a guitar in the room?
Matt (host):Give them a notebook? Give them a camera? How how should a parent sort of foster creativity?
Rafael McMaster:Yeah. You know, we feel that we cannot make culture, but we can make the space for it. We can create the space for it. Right? And one thing that we love about having so many different mediums of creating is that a kid will come in.
Rafael McMaster:They'll be like, I like drawing, but art isn't really for me. And then they'll play guitar and not really, and then photography. And then they'll spray paint and be like, oh, I love this. And whether it's spray painting or pottery or whatever it is, when a kid gets to kinda go through 25 different media until they find the thing that's their thing and then they're they're like off to the races. So I think part of that is for parents to put a bunch of different, you know, media in front of their kids to whatever degree it is.
Rafael McMaster:Maybe you go to the art store and you just walk around and see if they just are naturally gravitate towards anything. It's really, you know, it's I don't say it's impossible, but it's it's hard to tell just a book from its cover. And I can't look at an eight year old kid and be like, that kid's gonna like photography. They really kinda need to go goof around with this stuff and something is gonna click, something's gonna resonate. Right?
Rafael McMaster:So that's that's one component. I think the second is, you know, a lot of parents ask me they go, you know, well, what do you do? I feel like my kid doesn't listen to me. And I think part of it is the kids are listening, but at a certain point, once the parent once the kids are old enough to see that their parents aren't perfect. Right?
Rafael McMaster:So that's like age, you know, between six to eight, they realize, wait a minute, you make mistakes. You're not a superhero. Right? So then from that point, they're watching the parents and listening parents and they're like taking it with a little bit of grain and salt until they hear an outside source that they trust also validate the same concepts and like, okay, I figured my parent knew what they were talking about, just I just had to check. And and but what they definitely do is they watch us and they model after us.
Rafael McMaster:Right. And so, you know, if they am going you know, my daughter grew up doing tons of creative stuff in part because she was looking over at me and I was painting and drawing and playing guitar and enjoying it. Right? And projecting for a kid who hasn't let's say they haven't painted, so they feel like I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm there's no way I'm gonna be good at this.
Rafael McMaster:All those judgmental thoughts come in. If a parent sits down next to them and just starts swishing around paint going, I don't know what I'm doing either, but this feels really nice. Okay. So we're supposed to be doing this because it just feels nice and not because I need to make it look like a certain thing. I don't need to judge it.
Rafael McMaster:I don't need to sell it. I don't need to evaluate it or grade it. Yeah. This is just for the act of doing this. Well, this is kinda nice.
Rafael McMaster:This is this feels really satisfying just blending this paint around. Yeah. Let's do this some more. You know? And now the parent is alongside them modeling that it's okay to not know what we're doing and it's okay to just do stuff for the act of creating without needing to judge it.
Rafael McMaster:Modeling it for them, with them alongside them, and if they have a particular kid that's gonna dislike it because the parent's doing it, okay, well then do it off in the distance. But they'll see you. They'll see that on Thursday night instead of going and watching more TV, you set up some paintings in the other room and you're playing music and enjoying yourself. And they'll log back there in the back of their mind like, That's they seem like they enjoyed themselves. That's interesting.
Matt (host):Yeah. Yeah. And I guess it's really important not to put a sort of a value judgment on on what they've created. It's everything. It's important.
Matt (host):Yeah. Instead say, tell me about the creative process. Tell tell me what you've made, how you made it. You know, that's that's the important thing. Right?
Rafael McMaster:Yeah. And, listen, it being able to skillfully talk like that and talk with a kid like that, you know, not everybody has that skill. And and if if a parent catches themselves saying something like, that's awesome, realizing that that is a judgment, but ultimately it's a positive one, that's not the end of the world. That's an okay thing. What we really wanna stay away from is, that's terrible, you need to try harder, or why do you sing, you have a terrible voice.
Rafael McMaster:I can't tell you how many times I've heard it just breaks my heart. And oftentimes, it's things where it's like, I'll be this is the type only type of stuff that I would hear with teens in rehab where they're like, oh, well, I don't sing because my dad says that I have a terrible voice. Like, who does that?
Matt (host):Why would we do this? Right. Yeah. Exactly. When we, you
Rafael McMaster:know, we talk about I am not the voices and thoughts in my head. I'm the one observing the voices and thoughts, those programs. Well, where did those programs and stories come from? So much of it came from our parents and our family. Right?
Rafael McMaster:So as an adult, as a parent, I need to be very, very vigilant and thoughtful about what it is I'm saying to my kid, knowing they might be living with those programs for the rest of their lives. Yeah. Yeah.
Matt (host):For sure. So, let's talk a little bit about imagination and hope. So, there's an idea in your philosophy that, that's I think really powerful for mental health and that's the power
Rafael McMaster:of
Matt (host):imagination. Because before someone can build a different future, they have to be capable of imagining one. That's right. So, for a young person who's depressed, traumatized, or feels very stuck in their life, that can be very difficult and so, can creativity actually help to restore the ability to imagine that life might be different.
Rafael McMaster:A 100%. Right? And, and, you know, there's, you know, creativity and imagination are like synonymous. Right? So, what I would say is, it's hard to run when I have one foot stuck in a bucket full of mud.
Rafael McMaster:Right? And so, you know, this is where, you know, particularly, like, if there's trauma, trauma therapy, these things are invaluable, simply invaluable. Or having just a safe person that I can talk to where I can share honestly and receive empathy. I think that's at the heart of what a lot of that healing is about, right? Feeling feeling seen, feeling heard, feeling understood and that I'm not a monster because those things happened to me or because I did those things.
Rafael McMaster:Then I have a better chance of being in the present. And this is also why two of the tools are acceptance and forgiveness. These help us get back to a place of neutrality so that I can be in the present with full clarity to be available for my own imagination. Now, when a person begins, you know, and and intention is the third of the tools, which is really focused on imagination, and everything I've built here as a nonprofit in our programs, all start, like you said, in the visualization world first. I sit, I meditate, I visualize, I create, I imagine, I think about I've I've already sat here with you, Matthew, because last night, as I was falling asleep, I did a visualization and it was the end of the podcast.
Rafael McMaster:We were both smiling. We had had a good time. Right? And for all the different reasons that I won't get into in this moment, there is all this, like, neurological wiring that I can do that I can prewire reality before it happens so that I have a higher probability and potentiality of having that desired outcome because I've already clarified to myself exactly what the bull's eye is. Right?
Rafael McMaster:Yeah. So before getting and running at that level of imagination, manifestation, and visualization as a basic core elements, it's can I sit with my eyes closed or daydream and daydream a vision of myself laughing with friends? Can I visualize myself sitting on the couch, breathing deep, and not feeling anxious and feeling nice and calm? Can I visualize I'm petting my dog and I can feel it in my heart and I can enjoy it? And so these become some of these creative exercises that can become fundamental basic building blocks of developing the strength of imagination without trying to require myself to imagine something super complex.
Rafael McMaster:Let me just, you know, the if the imagination muscle is not well developed, then let me just strengthen it with light weights. And these light weights can be, can I imagine myself eating dinner later? Okay. Yeah. I can see what that can look like.
Rafael McMaster:Okay. Can I imagine myself falling asleep? By the way, imagining oneself falling asleep as you're falling asleep is a great life hack to be able to fall asleepies. Yeah. A 100%.
Rafael McMaster:Yeah. If my if my mind is racing about the stress of tomorrow, is that going to give me a better shot? Or if I'm imagining myself cozy and relaxed and I feel how cozy relaxed I am, I'm falling asleep. Next thing know, I'm asleep. Right?
Rafael McMaster:And so, know, subconscious and our whole sense of being will follow where we guide it through the visualization of what we tell it is our intention of what we want, and so that's why so oftentimes the big things we imagine come true and why the things that do come true we oftentimes imagine first, even if it's a daydream or a glance of a vision. It's part of how our neurology is wired to really speak and think and experience through visions because they go below the cognitive surface of rational thinking into a deeper place of our being. And so, you know, I just think playing around young people don't need to be to explain to them what imagination is or how imagination works, But maybe what they could use is support and knowing that it matters. Maybe what they could use is support saying, that's awesome. Keep daydreaming.
Rafael McMaster:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. I'm I'm curious to see it.
Rafael McMaster:Tell me more about it later. That's really interesting. Well, you had an invention for such and such and such, and ask follow-up questions and and be curious and and make them feel like they matter and that their imagination matters because to a kid who is getting the feedback that their imagination matters and it's not just them rambling, talking about stuff that their peers around them or their family like, oh, they're talking about. Support it. Empower it.
Rafael McMaster:Because those are gonna be the muscles that they take on later on life to be their empowered, creative, soul esteem of imagination, visualization. These are the core building blocks. And when we shut it down, are you talking about that again? That's just your imagination. There we may be laying down some heavier bricks than we understand.
Matt (host):Right, right. So, one thing that I've really gleaned, well, there are many things I've gleaned from our conversation today, but I think the central thing for me is that creativity is much more fundamental to mental health than people often give it credit for. And so, when young people create something, they're practicing agency, they're making choices, they're tolerating mistakes, they're experimenting, they're turning something invisible, an idea, an emotion, an image in the mind, into something real, palpable. And perhaps more importantly, they're learning that they can affect the world around them rather than simply react to it. And that's, I think, a really powerful lesson for a developing mind.
Matt (host):So before we close, is there one final thought you'd like parents to take away from from our conversation today?
Rafael McMaster:Sure, you know, and we've talked about awareness for a moment, but I wanna bring it back to this if you're if you're open to it because we do find this is an idea I did not know or learn till I was 35. I even though I had had mindfulness make its way through my high school and even though I read Eckhart Tolle in my twenties, for whatever reason it didn't click and what I've in studying it and talking to people, I almost have to hear this idea five, six, seven, ten times until it really starts to sink. So I'm going to take an effort, if you don't mind, to just say it one more time, which is this idea of mindful awareness that I am not my thoughts. I'm the one having my thoughts, and my thoughts are like programs, the ones that I slow dance become my attitude and energy and the ones and that I am the one who has the ability to guide myself to new thoughts. It's a very simple basic concept, but it is the core fundamental building block of all long term recovery and mindset training and unlocking potential, all of it rests on the foundation of this.
Rafael McMaster:Now, these are these fundamental the fundamental arithmetic that we that my life is dedicated to teaching this next generation. Because we raise this next generation to go out and deal with the quadratic equation and calculus of trying to rest satisfaction and happiness out of this life. It's complex. And we're having them go out there without the basic arithmetic, multiplication, addition, subtraction, division of I am not my thoughts, I'm the one having my thoughts. That's what mindful awareness is.
Rafael McMaster:Okay. That's basic but important. So, we're on an awareness campaign, Matthew. We're on awareness campaign to unite a million aware minds. And if we can unite these a million aware adults, what we're going to do is we're building and we will be supporting building the absolute best destination for any young person to go to to learn mindful awareness, to learn these fundamental life tools, and learn many other tools, growth mindset, all that kind of stuff, breath work, all that stuff for free.
Rafael McMaster:A place where any teen can go, watch content that's created by other teens so it looks and feels like them. The site swipes so it feels like TikTok, but everything on there is positive nourishment for the mindset and mindful development. And so, you know, we want everyone who hears this to go to the Wear Minds project where they can sign up to be part of this awareness campaign, this Aware Minds movement. And, you know, Matthew, I can tell that you have a high level of consciousness. You understand the importance of awareness.
Rafael McMaster:I would look to you to be a fellow amplifier with me on this mission to spread awareness. You know, John Cabot Zinn on a podcast a couple months ago when asked, how do you feel about the state of the world? He's like, you know, I just spoke at the UN about awareness. I'm looking at our country. I'm not feeling so great about it, especially because I have grandchildren.
Rafael McMaster:Follow-up question. Well, what can young people do to try and change the planet? She says, honestly, learn awareness. Because every school shooting, every addiction, every mental health challenge all stemmed because the person is believing and listening to the guidance of the voices inside their head. The voices are saying negative things, and they don't realize they don't need to identify with those voices.
Rafael McMaster:That's the entire ballgame. So awareness, the position of being the observer unlocks all of that. And so then the follow-up question to that was, well, where can young people go to learn this curricular awareness? Annie didn't have an answer. Yeah.
Rafael McMaster:We wanna be that answer, and that answer is going to be StreamOfConsciousnessDotLife. And so, depending on when a person's hearing this podcast, all of those will be up and running by early September twenty twenty six. And, you know, Matthew, I'm excited to have you alongside us and have Nimble Youth alongside us as a partner in helping spread the word of awareness and mental wellness. And I and I'll I'll connect with you outside this podcast so we can get your logo up on our website and help drive aware conscious parents to everything that you have to offer in your message. Let's unite the tribes.
Rafael McMaster:This we're gonna need it. Like, winter's coming. Winter's coming. Like, where where things are gonna be in five years with the AI and screen addiction of it all might be very, very challenging, and we're gonna be glad that we started this movement now to unite the conscious people so that we can be a powerful assembly for advocacy, for transforming the consciousness of this planet, beginning with awareness for our youth in a way that's interesting, fun, cool, and exciting for them. What is that?
Rafael McMaster:That's creativity. It's spreading it through their creative culture. That's how it's going to be. The seed will be interesting and metabolizable by their peers, wrap it in their creative culture, wrap it in their generation's DNA. And what is their DNA?
Rafael McMaster:That's their expression of their creative and art. That's the DNA of their generation.
Matt (host):Absolutely. Rafael, thank you for being a guest today, and thank you for all that you and Indivisible Arts are doing for the world. Likewise. Likewise. This has been fantastic, Matthew.
Matt (host):I love what you're
Rafael McMaster:doing with Nimble Youth. I'm all on board and I'm excited to walk this path together.
Matt (host):Absolutely. My guest today has been Rafael McMaster, artist, educator, author, youth mental health advocate, and founder and executive director of Indivisible Arts. Through its youth programs, Indivisible Arts combines creativity with practical tools for awareness, acceptance, intention, gratitude, compassion, forgiveness, and connection, helping young people develop emotional resources they can carry into the rest of their lives. We'll include links to Raphael and Indivisible Arts and the Fundamental Life Tools in our episode notes. And if today's episode made you think of a young person who could benefit from having more room to create, please do share this episode with them or with a parent, teacher, counselor, or coach in their life.
Matt (host):And if you enjoy Nimble Youth, please do follow the podcast and leave us a rating or review. It will help more families discover these conversations. Until next time, perhaps one of the best things we can give young people today isn't another answer. It's a blank canvas and the permission to discover what they can put on it. I'm Matthew Butterman.
Matt (host):This is Nimble Youth. We'll see you next time.