✨ Magical Mindset Podcast: Creative Expression

Nurturing Creativity, Discovering Talents, and Newborn Care | Macarena luz Bianchi with Millenia Ortiz

[00:00:00] Introduction to Magical Mindset

Macarena: In this episode, we have a creative, inspiring conversation about expressing ourselves and discovering our talents. Self-expression is so important. And I love how it leads us to be who we are. And it's so important to do that from the very beginning.

Intro: Welcome to Magical Mindset with Macarena luz Bianchi, where we explore the magic of mindset, gratitude, and purposeful living. I'm your host, Macarena, and I'm thrilled to have you join me on this journey of wonder, wellness, and wisdom. You can find the episode show notes, your free Magical Mindset Blueprint, and more at xpres.me/podcast. And here's the show.

[00:00:45] Meet Millenia Ortiz: A Creative Journey

Macarena: Today I'll be speaking to Millenia Ortiz. She's a newborn care specialist, multi-talented hair and makeup artist. We had a wonderful conversation one day.

We met at a hair salon and we were talking about creativity. And I asked the question, what is your art? What is your creative outlet? Do you remember this conversation?

Millenia: Yes, I do. I definitely enjoyed the interactions and conversation that we had that day. I would say my art, I think definitely is hair. I am very, I would say artistic in the sense of just doing hair. I love to make someone feel beautiful or pretty much highlight their beauty and making them feel special, making them feel just the best them is really what's important.

Macarena: And then when did you know that was your creative outlet?

Millenia: I feel like as a little girl, I used to always do my cousin's hair. I used to do their makeup, just like kind of have fun with it. And then I think to realize and to connect how it truly makes someone feel happy. I feel like that was just always a good feeling for me to see you can bring out of somebody simply by a hairstyle or a makeup style.

Macarena: Wonderful. Wonderful.

Growing up, I love the movie Toy Story because everybody wants to be Andy's favorite toy, Pixar's Toy Story. That's what that story is about. And our attention is how we show love. So as a kid, I was like, wow, blown away by that movie. And I could relate to it because there's three of us.

My brother, who was very smart and very creative, but he went through his challenging years, like all of us. So he became the troublemaker. My sister was very creative. So she was the creative one and I was the smart one. And I was like, that's so limiting. I'm everything. I'm multi-passionate. So I remember really being like, Oh, they see me as the smart one.

And because they know I'm smart, they don't even show up to my school stuff, for example. Like whenever there was like a school function. I'm like, are you coming? They're like, no. I'm like, why? We already know what they're going to say, that you're the best student.

We live in a different era. But anyway, it was really interesting. So I did of course, navigate all that stuff and it was fine. It made me who I am, which I adore.

Millenia: Yeah.

Macarena: But I find that everyone is creative, even if we're typecast or limited in that sense, which is why I love finding that about people, no matter what their job is. So what's your creative outlet?

And for you, it was hair, which totally makes sense. But then you were also telling me about other stuff, about expression.

[00:03:28] The Power of Writing and Music

Macarena: Did you ever write stuff? Did you write poetry?

Millenia: I definitely, so outlets outside of what connects to what I'm currently doing and what I'm passionate about. I love to write. I feel as though when I went through things as a little girl, writing was my outlet. Writing. Drawing. Not the best drawer, but you know, it was just more fun for drawing.

Writing was an outlet to really express my feelings, express how I felt. I honestly kind of think that it was therapy in a sense for me. Because I recently found some of those and just rereading it. It was just like, wow, I feel as though that really helped me be able to release it. Release it and kind of just work through it, work through how I was feeling. I think that when you bottle that in, it can be so much more damaging or so much more like long term affecting. I think that would be a better way to explain that.

I would do poems. I actually wrote a letter, I believe it was like a poem slash letter when my great grandmother passed away. And that was just, again, felt so good to just write that. I'm pretty sure I cried when I wrote it. I think it definitely helped me to discover how to express my emotions and how to not hold them in.

That's a big outlet for me. I would say music. Music has always been an outlet for me. I can't lie. When I was younger, you know, when you're sad and you put on sad music to feel more sad. I don't know, what the connection with that was.

I definitely try to play more upbeat music. Listen to a lot of stemming away from secular music. It's like Christian godly music. So I feel like that's so uplifting for me personally. So music is still a big thing.

Writing, journaling is still a big thing as well. So I could definitely say it was a big, big outlet for me.

Macarena: I love everything you've touched upon. Yeah. Music. I love that in the Harry Potter books. It says, "Music is a greater magic than anything we do here." I think that is so true. Because it is really a vehicle. Because we tune into the feeling and the emotion of either the music or the lyrics or both.

It allows us to feel, and sometimes we need permission to feel and express ourselves. And by tuning into it, we really get to do that. So I love what you've said about journaling and books and writing. Obviously, I have, I don't know, 40 something books of poetry. So poetry is a big thing for me. It started with my gratitude poem, and then it just went from there.

Boom boom, boom, boom, boom. It's like, okay, how to express appreciation for moms, how to say happy anniversary, things like this. And what I love about it is, I love how these anchors are so powerful and people return to them year after year. So it becomes like a tradition or like a yearly ritual where they can tune in. Especially with things like the intimacy book, the anniversary book, the Valentine's day book, because relationships can be challenging. Even the friendship book, but it could tune us into this is the ideal. This is what we're going for. When we're tuned in, this is what it is. So I find music, words, poetry, journaling, all of that can do that. And I love the idea of doing your own therapy. I love working with therapists. I think we all could use a good therapist.

And I love it when I find books that are like therapy in books.

[00:06:51] Exploring Relationships and Personal Growth

Macarena: So what you were saying, I thought of a few, one of them is The Artist's Way. Have you heard of this one?

Millenia: I don't believe so, but I've gotten really into reading books. So I will definitely be keeping this in mind.

Macarena: I'll definitely put links to everything in the show captions because I may not remember the names exactly. But The Artist's Way is really cool because she was into the 12 steps. So she did the 12 steps for creativity. So it is really a guidebook on how to rehab your inner artist or connect to it.

And it's a really great book when people are in transitions. Like after a mom has a baby, after career change, empty nesters, a graduating from something. So it's a really great transition book. And I did it much earlier. And then I did it when I left the corporate world. Oh, about 10 years ago. And it's absolutely wonderful. The Artist's Way. There's another book, which I'll look up the name. It's about journaling and speaking to your inner child. And it's really cool because it uses your dominant hand as the parent and your least dominant hand as the child.

And you have a dialogue and you re-parent and you help heal that, which doesn't matter. I have found with my clients, my coaching clients,

it doesn't matter how wonderful people's childhood have been. Everybody benefits from inner child work. This is what I've realized personally and with my clients.

And then there's another fantastic book about relationships. And it's called, I don't like the name so much, but Harville Hendrix and it's called Getting the Love You Want, a guide for couples. And what's really cool about it is he has a whole like therapy he does. So there's therapists that do his system. But it's all about how we attract the people that are going to allow us to heal whatever is unfinished with our parents.

I've noticed, my husband and my father have a lot of similarities. But because this is my second marriage, it's much better. Like the things they have in similar are awesome, which is really interesting. Whereas in the past, it wasn't like that. So anyway, it is quite fascinating and I find that it's really great for people who want a relationship.

Not everybody wants a relationship. Not everybody's made to be a partner in this life. But if you are, this book is really wonderful.

Millenia: Awesome. Yeah, I definitely want to tune into probably all three of them. I'm super big on uncovering what may have led you to be kind of the adult that you are and are becoming. So that inner child book, I think it's extremely important to really discover and uncover.

Because some things, you don't even realize, affect you in your adult life. And I definitely agree with if you've had the best upbringing or not. Things still affect you. Your parents were who they are. And family. Everything affects you in different ways. But it's so important to definitely see what that is.

Macarena: I would tell my new parent friends, all you can do is do your best because no matter what, they're going to be screwed up. No matter what you do. It's called being human. So no one is spared the human experience. So no matter what happens, we expand through challenges. In my coaching, I call that the Theme Park of Life.

So life is a theme park of expression. Sometimes there's obstacle courses. Some people like scary rides, some people don't. But what's cool is we could always work with the real estate. If we don't like something, we can always remodel, right? We can upgrade, we can change. But if we go through life with that awareness, I find it's so much easier to navigate and be conscious. But not everybody wants that.

Millenia: No, it's definitely like you have to want it. You have to want the growth, the best version of yourself. It's a constant working. You're constantly working on it. You can have a season of such highs, but then you can have a season of lows where you're learning something that you might not like about yourself that you have to really work on and better.

And that's okay. Like you said, we're human. And I feel like giving yourself the grace to do that just makes the journey so much more beautiful in the end. But at some point you're going to overcome it. So I love that.

Macarena: I love that. And I love what you say about giving yourself grace. Because we tend to be so hard on ourselves. And I think it's a bad habit. We have these fantasies of perfectionism and I know I'm definitely a recovering workaholic and perfectionist and people pleaser do gooder. Like a whole combination of stuff that I've gotten to unpack and examine and make new choices. So when it comes up, it's very clear what's going on.

And all of this ties into self-expression. I think the more outlets, the more vehicles you have of self-expression, of joy. And in my practice, I call it lighthearted living, wonder, wellness, and wisdom. So music is actually all of that. But if I had to choose one, I would put it in the wonder category.

And I find that most people ignore sometimes that part of themselves. Which is why I think it's so important to have a spiritual practice or some kind of like nature relationship. So that gets to be expressed more than of course it's gratitude. I'm all about gratitude. The first poem I wrote about what's gratitude. So gratitude, I think, is one of the things that hits all three, wonder, wellness, and wisdom. But there's so many things and everyone has their own way of accessing those things. They have their own way of expressing those things. And I think as we get better at it, the challenge is how can we tune in to those three things within us without external stuff.

So that's like the advanced work.

Millenia: No, I completely agree. Completely agree. I also want to circle to the relationship book. I think that's super important to find someone that connects with you in the way of helping you grow. Because I feel like sometimes you can run into people that you might like them if it's physical or whatever it may be. But are they guiding you somewhere to help you grow within each other? Do you guys bring out the best in each other I guess would be the best way to put that.

Macarena: Yes. I've seen this so many times. Because people vibe differently. They have different frequencies with different people. So someone may be an angel with you and might have a completely different unhealthy friendship or relationship with someone else. If you've been around long enough, you will experience that.

You will notice that.

One of the mindsets to have around relationships is that ideally, It's a loving environment for the individual to grow. But most people don't look at it like that. Before it used to be like, you're a half looking for another half.

I think the upgrade of that, that I use in my practice is imagine you're a beam of light and the other person is a beam of light. And when you come together, you shine brighter. And if you don't, they are not for you. If that's not what happened. All relationships have their challenges. Especially the longer they are. All relationships will have their challenges. All friendships will have their challenges.

Every day has a night. Every year has a winter. It's completely natural to have the ups and downs. And one of the things I think is great about like second marriages, if people do the work, again, this goes with everything, if people are doing their internal work. Cause everybody has problems. The question is, what are you doing about it? Are you ignoring it? Are you self reflecting? So I find when people do their internal work, they grow and learn. And then the second marriage or third marriage or whatever it is, can be really quite glorious. Because especially my generation, people got married way earlier before they even knew who they were. And that's such a lottery. Because you don't know who you're going to become. So how can you gauge who the person is going to be? So I've seen the spectrum. I've seen the high school sweethearts. I know three. Three high school sweethearts that were correct. They're still together, 20, 30 years later. Fantastic.

And then of course we know, a lot of people it doesn't work out. So the more I think you know who you are and you could see yourself. And then so much with relationship is so much about lifestyle. Which sometimes it's so early to tell when you're young. I'll give you an example. Someone very close to me, first marriage, married the high school sweetheart, very troubled household.

So it makes sense. They paired up to create a family because things were not good for them. But they had nothing in common. So one of them loves to exercise and be outside. The other one was an accountant and had absolutely no interest in any physical activity. For Christmas, the active one gives the non active one a bicycle.

Millenia: Yeah. Yeah.

Macarena: Who is that gift for? Not for them. So obviously it did not work out. So then you have to understand, are you a morning person? Are you a night person?

I remember, this is really funny. I can't stand onions. I have an aversion to chewing onions. I don't mind if it's invisible in a sauce. I use them all the time, but I cannot bite into onions. Even as a kid, I'd be like, is there onions in this? My mom would say, no. I'd bite it. Onions, I throw up. So I have something with physical onions. And one time I was having pizza with one of my best friends and we were about to order. And she's like extra onions. I was like, Oh my God, thank God we're not a couple. Because this would not work. We're not compatible when it comes to things like that. And one of the first weekend I met my husband, we went out with a friend of ours. We went out together and they ordered fried food. There's nothing wrong with that. But I was just like, I wanted the seaweed salad and the salmon carpaccio, and my husband was like, yes. So it was funny, him and his wife, my friends and their wife, they could eat together. No problem. And me and my future husband, we're completely compatible when it came to our food.

So it's little things like that you don't realize make such a big difference. So sometimes, the things you find cute about somebody are the things that may annoy you with enough time and distance. So that's why the foundation has to be so important. And this book, whether you're single, in a relationship or want a relationship or don't want to relationship, this book is amazing. Because it's going to help you see the challenges or the opportunities, the relationship with your parents or not even parents, caretakers, whoever was your primary caretaker provided for you and where you are in that process.

So that if you handle them consciously, you don't have to relieve those traumas. You don't have to attract the trauma of that in your partner.

Millenia: Yes, I completely agree. I completely agree.

Macarena: Awesome. Awesome.

Book Ad: Offering more than just words, our gift book Sympathy is a beacon of hope and comfort in times of grief. Get yours today at MacarenaLuzBianchi.com and share the gift of comfort. Sympathy, A Poem of Solace, acronym Poetry Gift Series by Macarena Luz Bianchi. Also available in Spanish.

Macarena: So

[00:18:52] Newborn Care Specialist: A Helping Hand

Macarena: what does a newborn care specialist do?

Millenia: So, newborn care specialist contracts with a family that brings home a newborn. It's typically contracted for three months. And our main goal and focus is to do everything for the baby and for the parents to make that journey be easier. At the end of the three months, our main goal would be to have the baby sleeping through the night.

Macarena: Oh, wow. Within three months.

Millenia: In three months.

Macarena: That's amazing. So getting a baby to sleep within three months, that is huge. What a beautiful service to provide to the family because having a baby is so new and different and everything changes. Everything changes once you have a baby. So having experts that their expertise is getting this bundle of joy to sleep is quite remarkable. That's amazing. And then I'm curious, how much earlier do you start working with the family or is it once the baby comes home?

Millenia: It's typically when the baby is born, once they come home. I believe it could be requested to potentially be at the hospital like the day after or so, but it's typically when the baby comes home.

Macarena: Interesting.

Millenia: Typically, nights and 24-hour is what's desired, just to get the rhythm going. The specific routine schedule. It definitely takes a journey to raise a child. And you can read as many books but it definitely is nice to have that extra hands on like you said expertise guidance along the way. I feel like I personally have learned so much starting this new career .

So it's been great. I think what truly brought me into it was my cousin recently had my baby cousin. And just being with her, the joy she brought was indescribable. It was just an amazing feeling just to be able to be with them from birth to about six months.

Macarena: Wow. It sounds precious and really special. And what's cool about having support like that, I think like in film, we say you prepare so that the magic can happen.

And I think having a baby is a lot. It's a lot on your body. It's a lot on your relationships, a lot on your home, all these new things.

And that's even if the baby is completely healthy. Sometimes babies have challenges. And if you don't know, if you don't have the experience, how do you know? So I think what you're doing is a really beautiful thing. And it allows women and families to express the best part of themselves because they have the support they need.

So that's so cool.

Millenia: Thank you. I think it definitely benefits the mother extremely with the fact of just being able to kind of get back to yourself. Having that time to rest a little bit more or if they are active and they go to the gym to have that time to go to the gym or to do those things. Because postpartum depression is so real, of course, but so common.

And I feel like with that extra help, it can release a little bit of what someone doing it alone would feel.

Macarena: Of course. And I think, it takes a village, right? It does take a village.

So having that kind of support and community, I think is really a wonderful thing. I'm so glad that exists. I wish culturally, we had healthier views. Giving birth seems so scary. I personally was terrified of it and have never done it.

My mom had preeclampsia. She was allergic to being pregnant. So I remember I was four years old when my sister was born. And we thought my mom was going to die. Like we were all prepared. And I remember seeing her plugged in with all the stuff. It was horrible. It was really hard.

And I remember thinking, obviously the women in my family were not built for this. At four years old, I made that a thing. So I was like terrified of birth. Not of being a mom or anything like that. Didn't work out. I did have a miscarriage, which was very sad, of course.

But I'm a happy, thank you. I'm a happy step mom, a bonus mother, which is wonderful. And I am a very proud paw parent. So I've got my babies. I've got plenty of love. And also, when I was younger, when I thought I was going to only make movies, I was like, that's plenty. So with the community and things to love, I'm okay.

But I've seen how much better women in other cultures do it. For example, one of my best friends, she's French Algerian. From the moment she knew she was pregnant, she did these olive oil massages inside, outside, everywhere, bounced back like nothing had happened. And my husband's from Ecuador. In Ecuador, I know two or three women who had better bodies after giving birth than before, because they have some wrap technology. As soon as the baby's born, they do some like wrap with herbs and I don't even understand what it is. But wow, it was phenomenal. Could you imagine?

What could be possible if the mindset was that childbirth was beautiful and your body could be even better after? Wow. So fascinating. What's possible and how different cultures do it differently. And birth is amazing. Motherhood's amazing in any form, of course.

I find it fascinating what you do. I think it's a a cool gift. And you've, you found out that you love little babies, which is great because not everybody does.

Millenia: They really are so joyful.

Macarena: Wow.

Millenia: I definitely want to mention, I love that you said bonus mom. Because that's def I call my stepmom, she's my bonus mom. So, I love that you put those two together. I love that.

Macarena: It's a magical mindset, isn't it? That's one of them. Think of it as a bonus family. I love that movie. There's a funny movie with Adam Sandler called Blended.

[00:24:56] Blended Family Dynamics

Millenia: Yes! I've seen that.

Macarena: Yeah, we're blending or it's really hilarious. I think that's where I might've heard it the first time. And I was like, yes, you have a team.

One of the advantages is you don't just have two people on your side. You've got four. So

Millenia: Yeah.

Macarena: that's pretty awesome.

Millenia: I've been extremely blessed. That's exactly how I grew up. My parents weren't together. They tried to make it work, but from a year old, they were separated. Good friends, but they were separated. And now they're both happily married with significant others that I can call my bonus dad or my bonus mom.

It's more love that I received. That's how I feel and it's definitely a blessing.

Macarena: That's so nice. Yeah.

[00:25:41] Navigating Bonus Parenting

Macarena: Being a bonus parent has its ups and downs. I can tell you that. Our kids were really little when we got together. And being a product of divorce, I didn't want to meet them at first. We waited about a year. I was like, only if this is real. Do I want to even meet them?

Because it's not right. And my dog Saphie, she's 15 pounds. Jordan, he was Saphie size when I met him. He had just turned two years old. Martin was five, I believe. And it was so nice. Those initial time was so nice. Then things got quite complicated, I have to say, sadly, but then it got better.

The rhythms. Everything has a rhythm. But in those situations, I think it's good to be clear. As the grown-up, I hold the space. So I had very clear. Not rules, just a mindset. It doesn't matter. It's temporary. Eventually they're going to grow up and not be in our lives.

So we need to take advantage of all of these phases. Talk about shocking change because one second, all they want to do is hug you. I love you. And then one day, no warning, nothing. They're like, Ew, you're a girl. And I'm like,

Millenia: The phase of life. Yes. Going through.

So kids to teenage to adults.

Macarena: Yeah. So now they're 18 and 22 now. So all good. They've grown up to be wonderful people. And it's just hilarious how time changes.

[00:27:16] Discovering Personal Talents

Macarena: I'm really involved with my niece and nephew. I'm the fun, crazy aunt. They've got two of us, but they're closer to me.

So I get to participate a lot more. So we always laugh that these kids are angels, all of them, compared to what we did at their age.

Millenia: Yeah.

Macarena: The trouble we got every now and then they're like, Oh my God, I'm in trouble. And they tell me what it is. And I'm like, what's the problem? What happened? You didn't break any laws. No one got hurt. So you live and learn. Correct and continue. Congratulations. If this is the worst that happens to you, fantastic. So it's pretty, pretty funny.

Millenia: I feel like my parents can definitely relate. I would say I was an angel. I definitely had, you know, fun, but not compared to the stories I've heard. And I tell them that all the time. It's an ongoing joke.

Macarena: Yeah. They're still not old enough for me to reveal all the crazy stuff that went on with me, but they're getting there. They're getting there. We always laugh about that. Hashtag perspective. It's funny. But every generation has their challenge. Everybody has their opportunities. And that's life.

Millenia: yeah.

Macarena: And we all live and learn. And then every generation tries to compensate for whatever it was. So our parents, my generation's parents were, yes, I've got pictures. I have evidence of them being very loving and caring when we were little, but everybody had problems. So they weren't there so much emotionally.

But that's okay. So then what do we do? We compensate from that. My husband is very emotionally involved with the boys as much as they allow. Of course, they're like, dad.

Millenia: yeah.

Macarena: Every now and then my husband still goes, mama bear on them. And it's pretty funny. So he knows to let them be grown-ups. We all have to live and learn. We all have to set our own course.

[00:29:16] The Importance of Self-Knowledge

Macarena: And I always thought I had some great mentors.

One of my dearest friends who helped me during my spiritual awakening. She had a wonderful relationship, not only with her kids, but with all the kids in her neighborhood. Because she didn't see her kids as her property. She saw her children as two souls sharing the same community. So she could not make it about her so much when they had issues.

I think I learned a lot from her because sometimes people in my coaching, they're like, wow, you're so intuitive. I'm like no. What I can do is I can get out of my own way so I can be present and allow others to be who they are and not judge. That's the skill I learned and I learned it from her.

When her kids friends would have problems, they'd all come to her. That's why it does take a village and it's so important to have community and aunties and good friends and teachers play a huge part in this. I loved school because my home life was not good, was not pleasant.

My parents were unhappy. Eventually, they got divorced. My mom was bipolar. So I loved being at school. It was wonderful. And I was lucky to have some fantastic teachers where I could express myself. And that's actually how the writing started. So I thought everybody could just express themselves. I thought everybody had that skill, but how it happened for me was I'd get assignments. And specifically one, I remember I was 11 years old, maybe fifth grade or sixth grade, I don't remember.

And they had said, write about your summer vacation. So I would just do the assignment. And it turned out that every time I did one of these assignments, I wrote about what I observed and what I felt. And it was very deep and real. So the teachers would always be like, wow great writing. And it's tough to be a kid sometimes. So I remember that paper.

 It was a crazy summer vacation. I wrote the assignment and I think the last line of it was, why is it the ones who love us can hurt us the most?

That was how I ended this. And it was about my summer vacation and all this stuff. If I look for it, I'll post it because it was deep and heavy. And I remember reading it, I don't know, maybe 10 years ago. And I was like, Whoa, nothing much has changed in my ability to perceive and feel and communicate.

I encourage young people to understand themselves and explore. There's a few things that I really recommend. So it's like personality tests. So there's something called the Enneagram. Have you done that?

Millenia: I don't believe I have, but we talked about it. I remember talking about it. And you had broke it down. Like the ins and outs of it. So I do remember that. We had touched on it.

Macarena: So I definitely recommend people do the Enneagram and or the strength tests. We'll put links to this. Because what's so cool about all of these, not only do you get to learn about yourself, but in the Enneagram, you learn about what happens to you when you're thriving and what happens to you, how you behave when you're scared or feel threatened.

So it's not just Oh, this is what it is. It's no, there's things on how to work with it, which is really fascinating. And the Enneagram can be a whole other episode. And then there's also something really cool. There's an aptitude test. It's called the Johnson O'Connor Foundation. And all the young people in my family, as soon as they turn 15 or so, they go and do this.

For the first one, we had to go to New York for him to do it. Now there's one closer to me in South Florida. So we've all gone to that, but it's a day of kind of playing and experiments. It's not just a computer questionnaire like the other ones. And they learn their aptitudes. So they learned that there's different intelligences. Not everyone's good at the same things. Everybody has different talents. And the reason I promote this so much is because I didn't realize that writing was my talent until, I don't know, way later in life. And even though I don't regret anything, I do feel it would have been great information to have. The funny part is that my brother would make fun of me. He would call me in Spanish, he would say la muela, which means BS, bullshit in English. I would translate it like that. So he thought I was some expert BS-er and I'm like, no. You state your point and then you support your point. To me, I'm like, isn't that common sense? Not everybody can do that. So he would make fun of me. He would say Oh, you and your BS, right? However, when he needed anything written that needed to be persuasive, he'd come to me, he'd be like, all right, I need help. I need your skills. I'm like, okay, what's your point? Okay, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And I make it make, clarity, makes sense. So to me, I really didn't understand what the big deal was. So I really didn't get it. And because it came so natural, I thought everybody could do it. I went to grad school for film producing, I probably should have gone for screenwriting.

Of course, I've written screenplays and now I'm a writer and I do all that stuff.

[00:34:59] Embracing the Magic of Mindset

Macarena: But wouldn't it have been great to have that information earlier in life? I think so. But some people completely disagree. They say having those things will limit you. I'm like, I don't know. I think life can be so confusing.

I think it's really great to know what your aptitudes are, because it doesn't work like, Oh, I'm good at this. I don't have to work at it.

Millenia: Yeah.

Macarena: It's, you're good at this, and if you give it some attention and some energy, wow. The whole idea of 10x, you can be 10 times better instead of just one increment at a time.

Anyway, there's been fascinating tests on this with speed reading, trying to teach speed people to speed read whether or not the teacher made the difference.

So the people who were really excellent at it, they improved drastically, drastically, drastically, drastically, like 200 times better. So the people that didn't have any talent to reading, who were slow readers, they improved. But very little. This experiment, they thought the hypothesis was a great teacher can teach anyone. Turns out, that's not really true.

Yes, they can learn a little bit. But if you have an aptitude towards something, wow, can you create something amazing. Because I did not know writing was my talent to much, much later in life. I'm such a champion of self-knowledge. I think it's so important for people to understand themselves.

And of course, all the things we talked about, a journaling practice, doing the artist's way, playing, figuring things out. All the things I talk about on this podcast really help to cultivate that and to adjust because we change, we evolve.

Millenia: No, I completely 100 percent agree. I think that honestly, I don't see how one can't see the benefit in that. Because if you would learn that talent of yours at a sooner age or sooner time, then that opens the world to you on how to do that, how to explore that talent. Because I feel as though you can explore it in so many different ways.

Like you said, it could be screenwriting. It could be writing books you have, writing poetry, writing. So many different outlets of a writer. So I feel that opens up a can of worms. It just is great. It opens up so much that you're able to do. I think it's very beneficial. Me currently, in my twenties, I'm exploring so many different avenues because I don't know. I definitely will be clicking on that link and doing it.

And I think that that could better guide me to even more of what I already know. What I'm saying is these ways, I feel like I've connected to these things a lot more, definitely the older I've gotten. I didn't even realize writing as a little girl was really, I feel like for me, it was just expressing my emotions on paper. Because in school I used to not like writing. The assignments that they would kind of force us on certain topics that we couldn't choose. And then once I became an adult, I'm like, wow, I actually do enjoy writing. But it's the writing that comes naturally to me or that I can choose to write about.

Even with reading, I thought I didn't enjoy reading, but I love to read books. I just didn't love the books they chose for summer. I don't know. It'd be a beautiful thing to even have in school. So then you know what classes you can take and kind of the guidance that you need.

I think it's very similar to people who are more trade based and more college based. Don't just force everyone to go to college. If you know, a trade school could be more beneficial to them. I'm not knocking either or knocking college or anything. But I found myself so much more successful going to cosmetology school than when I tried to go to a community college. A little more stressed out on certain classes or assignments.

Macarena: Yeah, it's definitely not one size fits all. And people learn and express themselves differently. So some people are more kinesthetic, some people are more auditory, some are visual, some people are combinations of each. And I remember with my youngest son, Jordan, when he was little, he would make all these sounds and he was always tapping on stuff.

And I was like, we got to get this kid a drum set. He's a percussionist. He's a percussionist. So sure enough, he flourished in school, in music and art, and he loves doing things with his hands. Of course he does. It was so obvious, since he was a kid. So I think it's really important to nurture that when we see it cultivated in ourselves and in the people around us, support those things. Because it's not that has to be the career, but it is a part of being a human to express yourselves.

I love that my niece and nephew, my niece has been dancing since she's four years old. They've been both playing the piano since like about the same time. That is amazing. So now they're college students, things are changing. But guess what? To me, I sound like you guys speak the language of music. You can read music. So that's incredible. You're never going to lose that. Same thing with dance. You speak dance. You're never going to lose that. One of my best friends, growing up, she did ballet. So now as a grown-up, she's an artist. She's in a family of artists. But they also have businesses, painters and sculptors, and they do all these things. She's got the most fabulous physique.

And I'm like, what do you do? She's nothing. I just danced my whole youth. Amazing.

Millenia: And I think it's so beautiful because these are just gifts, talents and gifts that we have. I personally believe that our gifts and talents are to help people in whatever ways it is, whatever way that it does, I should say. But everyone's gifted and talented in their own ways. So to be able to discover and explore that and then to magnify that is so important. Because I don't know, I feel like you're doing some form of justice to other people that it could serve.

Macarena: Yes, absolutely. And this is how we can express the wonder, wellness, and wisdom within us. If we have these skills or expressions. And at the beginning, you mentioned that you drew or you doodled for therapeutic purposes and you said, it's not very good. And it's not everything has to be good. Not everything has to be showman quality.

Millenia: Yeah.

Macarena: We recently had a get together with some family and some friends and we all went to the Madonna concert and it was fabulous. It was so amazing. It was a spectacle, the celebration tour. It was amazing.

 And it was like a Broadway show and a concert. It was really something special. And it was like the history of our lives through her music. And I remember that I've always had workaholic tendencies. Even as a kid, I remember being five years old. I'm about to turn six, no more messing around.

Macarena: I've got to help the world. I had these crazy thoughts as a child.

I was intense. I remember I loved school. I did great in school. Everything was great. But when I would come home, I would have my relaxing time in between doing homework. And I would put on my headphones back then and I would listen to music and I would sing along and I am not a good singer. And singing well was not the point.

So I would do this as a relaxing exercise. And I got berated by my brother. He was like, shut up. You suck.

So I grew up with this. Oh my God, you don't get it. The point is I'm not trying to be a professional singer. I'm not trying to get a job as a singer. It was just a release.

It was just an outlet. And oh my God, it was hilarious and traumatic. It's all better now. But what a way to like poopoo on expression for expression's sake, like having the courage to suck. It's so powerful.

Talk about a magical mindset. In other episodes, we talked about permission to play. I think it's so important to give yourself permission to be terrible at stuff because that's how you discover. That's how you expand.

Millenia: Yeah. I think that's honestly can find beauty in that. Because one, you know that that's not something you're going to turn into a career or something that you'll do, but you still tried it. And if it helped in expressing something at that point in your life, then...

Macarena: therapy.

Millenia: Yeah, you can take that.

So I definitely agree. I knew that my drawings were drawings of a young child. But I never wanted to be like a professional drawer, and that's okay. Circling back to writing, I definitely didn't think that I would want to write anything. But it's opened the doors of definitely the idea of writing something.

So we'll see if that is to flourish.

Macarena: That's beautiful. And even professionally, there is a wonderful gift people can give themselves professionally to let their first pass be terrible. Like so many people, I cannot tell you, cannot get a first draft of a book or whatever it is done because they're so afraid of perfection.

Instead, if the assignment is make the worst possible first pass of this, and then take it from there because everything evolves, right? Everything changes.

Millenia: It was a quote someone said and I loved it. Don't compare your day one to someone else's one day. And I feel like I love that

A friend of mine just used it for, yeah, for one of her posts and I loved it. I read that and I was like, Wow, that's so true. Don't compare your first day to someone's one day because someone's one day, they could have had so many trial and errors that you didn't see before.

I feel like it kind of broke down that. At least to me, it kind of gives you that grace. Circling back to grace of you're not gonna be able to do the first thing perfect or right. And I definitely feel like giving myself little pep talk because even with some things that I want to start, I feel like I definitely limit myself on starting those things because of like, well, what's this and this and this and that outcome.

And you just overthink and overwhelm yourself into not starting it. And I think the biggest thing is to just start.

Macarena: And so much is taken from the experience and you learn that in the artist way. We get reminded of that. And I remember in film school, one of the teachers would say, NATO. Not Attached To the Outcome Yes, you're trying to make a movie. However, through the process is where the fun is. So enjoy the process.

Enjoy being terrible at things. Enjoy being a beginner. Having the curiosity of a beginner is another magical mindset. So good. So good.

Millenia: I love that.

Macarena: Millenia, it's been so awesome speaking with you. You were one of the first, I think it was more than a year ago. We had such a magical conversation in the moment. And I said, these are the types of conversations I want to have on my podcast. So you're one of the first people I told about it when it was still in its inception and now it's coming true almost like a year later.

So I am so grateful to you. I'm so glad we had this opportunity to rekindle some of that magic and share some of the wonderful things you and I discussed. I value you and the wonderful work you do. Thank you.

Millenia: Thank you. I really, really appreciate you reaching out and even thinking of me. I love the conversation and just to be able to connect and exchange information to then do this now. Truly a blessing. It's very inspiring what you're doing and I truly, truly appreciate you you asking me being able to just have conversation.

I love conversation. So thank you.

Macarena: You're welcome. Thank you.

Sponsor: I want to thank our sponsors, Spark Social Press, my publisher, for supporting our show and their commitment to spreading joy and empowerment through their magical books. Spark Social Press believes in the power of mindset and the magic of self expression. Our enchanting children's book series, The Grateful Giraffes, teaches little ones the importance of gratitude and positive thinking by expressing themselves thoughtfully and tenderly, and with illustrations of their delightful adventures and heartwarming lessons.

Spark Social Press offers gift books for grown ups for every occasion, helping you express the perfect words to make your loved ones and colleagues feel seen and treasured. With these lighthearted poetry picture books at Spark Social Press, we believe everyone is glorious and deserves to be fulfilled with more wonder, wellness, and wisdom.

That's why our books are designed to spark creativity, uplift spirits, and empower readers of all ages to discover the joy of self expression and spread more wonder in your life. Visit SparkSocialPress.com. Today, together with spark social press, let's embrace the magic of mindset one book at a time.

Once again, a big thank you to spark social press for sponsoring the show and for bringing more wonder, wellness, and wisdom into the world through our thoughtful and inspiring books.

Outro: Wow. What a journey we've been on together. I hope this episode has left you feeling inspired, empowered, and ready to embrace the magic in your life. I'd love to hear about your experiences and insights. Please tag me on social media using the hashtag magical mindset podcast, or leave me a DM to share your wins, challenges, and aha moments.

Let's keep the conversation and the magic flowing beyond this episode. Thank you so much for tuning in and for being a. Until next time, keep shining your light and embracing the wonder of each day. You've got this!