Is art by nature therapeutic? How can the creative process help people engage with and articulate unspoken aspects of their inner world? Why is letting go one of the most important things a parent can do for their child? In this podcast episode, Billy and Brandy Eldridge speak with Michael Ulmer about analyzing the human condition through art. Meet Michael Aaron Ulmer Michael Aaron Ulmer is a visual creator passionate about sharing stories that analyze the human condition by crafting thought-provoking stylized self-portraits. Michael uses his self-portraits as a therapeutic outlet to study and convey his journey and his battle for mental wellness. With each and every piece he creates visual reminders of his own problematic areas he needs to work on, as well as builds bridges for people to be able to self-reflect and understand themselves better. His short films & documentaries have won international awards and he has created commercial & documentary work with global brands such as WD-40, National Geographic, Green Giant, Cooper Tire, Bissell, Melitta, and more. Visit his website and connect on Instagram and Facebook. In This Podcast Summary * Concept of ‘comfort’ * Tap into your creative side to help you process * Advice for parents from a son Concept of ‘comfort’ The concept of comfort is a difficult one to navigate because as much as comfort is something that we enjoy, we protect it at all costs, and sometimes that means consciously turning away from those who suffer because we do not want them to “spoil” our comfort, or break the illusion of comfort. It’s one of those things where it hurts to look at because I know that was my frame of mind and so I had to sit there, sit in that emotion and be like ‘okay, this is how I feel. Okay, I need to work on this’. (Michael Aaron Ulmer) We can become so accustomed to our comfort that we do not want anything to interfere with it or for anything to remind us that outside of our comfort is other people’s discomfort. That is where empathy comes in – we sometimes need to step out of our comfort, or broaden it, to encompass more people. I think when we sit in our own circles and we don’t confront our own inconvenience or the things in the world that inconvenience us, I realize how fragile my ego is and how when I’m going about my day and taking care of my stuff and I see calamity in the world and I have to pause and look at it, sometimes I don’t lean into the pain, I want to look away … yet the world is calling out and saying ‘we’re hurting, things need to change’. (Billy Eldridge) We then need to examine our role in participating in other people’s disenfranchisement for our comfort, because if we are really true to ourselves, we find that true comfort cannot come at the cost of other people’s happiness or security. Tap into your creative side to help you process You can experience a therapeutic process in many different ways, from going to see a traditional therapist to exploring your creativity because when you tap into your creativity, you tap into your emotions, your feeling mind, and your explorative side. That’s one of the things that we recommend for people to tap into their more creative side and find ways to process that – all we are doing is helping people [to] articulate the untold parts of their soul, and what is that but art? Trying to articulate a thing that you do not have words for that you can’t quite say. (Billy Eldridge) Advice for parents from a son I meet with broken children all the time and its because parents try to use their children as a way t...