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In this episode you’ll learn:

• What it means to live a life of purpose
• How Dave found the courage to quit a position in politics to write
• How to live a meaningful life with creativity as a value

Dave Ursillo crafts stories. He is a wordsmith, yoga teacher and communications specialist. Dave teaches people how to choose words that change their world.

In this episode of Inspirational Creatives, part one of our conversation, Dave shares his journey from a well paid position in politics, to an internship at the White House, through to handling depression and changing his life: by changing his story.

Learn about leadership and changing the story of your life. Leaving a meaningful legacy is considered as Dave reveals his approach towards living an authentic, creative and artful life: a life that involves permission, freedom, courage and unwrapping the many layers accrued when growing up.

Part two can be accessed here.

Items mentioned in this episode (quick access):

“Ultimately everything comes down to a story…” – Dave Ursillo

Changing the story of our lives

[0:00:42] Rob introduces Dave and this episode.

[0:01:44] Dave talks about Alive in Berlin and how to use your words to shape your life’s direction. Self-employed as a writer and creative entrepreneur. Depression. Changing life direction.

[0:02:57] The stories that we tell ourselves. Stories becoming a reality. Mental, physical, biological and emotional response. Stuggle outgrowing a story that becomes a reality.

[0:03:28] Yoga. Chakras. Energy centres of the body. Speculative science.

[0:03:50] Modern science complementing ancient wisdom. Trusting your gut. What story you are telling.

Storytelling

[0:04:44] Rob asks Dave how to uncover our own stories.

[0:04:53] Private journalling. Living well and values to help others live well. Service. Leadership. Giving.

[0:05:27] Detaching yourself from yourself. Ego. Identity.

[0:05:37] “We are so bound in our story…” There are stories that we tell ourselves about what we’re good at and what we’re not good at.

[0:06:35] The importance of starting to explain your own story to yourself objectively.

[0:06:55] Rob asks Dave how he prepares his creative writing environment. Dave talks about engulfing himself in an environment that is unconventional and un-regimented in process. Fluid. Dynamic.

“Story is just how we frame, give context to, and provide meaning to otherwise random facts, details and ideas.” – Dave Ursillo

Art. Colour. Stimulation.

[0:07:35] Home. Small village. Quiet. Trees. Blue sky.

[0:07:56] How living in the city drained his physical and emotional energy. Burden of pressure and noise.

[0:08:12] Relishing the space. Canvas space. Quiet to hear yourself think. Using several desks with different perspectives.

[0:08:54] Sitting in the window vs. sitting in the corner.

[0:09:10] Subtle tricks of the mind. Constant sense of newness.

“Change location, change your point of view, change your perspective…it’s remarkable how influential that can be.” – Dave Ursillo

Keeping a sense of presence and assessing the value and quality of life

[0:09:44] What creativity means to Dave. Understanding creativity as a value and not a skill. Dave calls himself an artist because he wants to live an ‘artful life’.

[0:10:16] Artistry and creativity are values. Assessing the value and quality of lives. Responsive, fluid, dynamic. Creating something from nothing. A magical process.

[0:11:00] Self-trust. Trusting that we’ll be able to respond creatively. Freedom.

[0:11:57] Creativity as a source of strength.

Growing up and leaving the political game

[0:12:31] Growing up in Rhode Island, New England.

[0:13:10] Childhood. Good education and two loving parents. Dave describes his environment growing up. Writing. Refused to read anything assigned to him.

[0:13:45] School papers felt very easy to Dave. Awareness of the world. Filled with few hardships.

Ideas and confrontation

[0:14:16] September 11, 2001. 15 years old. High school library. Watching the fuzzy television and the twin towers collapsing into themselves.

[0:14:49] Confronting the world that wasn’t so homogenous. Globalisation. Clash of civilisations.

[0:15:15] How a few people can cause a lot of harm, trauma and suffering. Service leadership and love.

[0:15:40] Becoming politically conscious. Public service felt like a sense of responsibility to help people. Politics and public service. Internship at the White House in 2008. Washington, D.C.

[0:16:31] Felt very skeptical about what he was doing with his life. Being extremely doubtful.

Finding true purpose

“I feel in my heart I am a leader, but who am I supposed to lead?” – Dave Ursillo

[0:16:45] One October night, looking for new jobs. Couldn’t sleep. Hectic energy. Restless energy. Anxiety.

[0:17:24] Writing in his journal. Started writing. Started asking questions.

[0:18:29] Qualifying the quality of service based on the people that were there to help Dave be that leader.

[0:18:54] What it means to live a life of meaning and purpose or leadership…Not being defined by social metrics of career success or financial wealth, job title, salary or how many people are following you…with votes, on Twitter, with blog readers.

“Can somebody be a leader without any followers?” – Dave Ursillo

Courage

[0:19:23] You have to be on the forefront as a leader or teacher. Leading by example.

[0:19:44] Making yourself being the best version of who you can be whether they call you their leader or not.

[0:19:56] Calling it quits on the public service career path. Good enough at writing to use as a skill to get somewhere.

[0:20:12] Embarked upon a path of trying to figure out what he was doing as I went.

[0:20:19] Tremendous courage. Rob asks was it a scary thing to do? Working with a powerful influencer. Quitting at the age of 23 years old.

[0:21:33] Suffering is not a competition. Dave was not living his purpose in a supportive role of a politician. His field of work challenged his morals values.

[0:22:03] Could do more to be best self. To serve or lead people outside of that career path.

Permission

“I was sick of feeling terrible…life is not that bad to feel this bad…” – Dave Ursillo

[0:22:20] Rationalising the decision from a health and well-being stand-point.

[0:22:40] Rob asks Dave how he feels now.

[0:22:50] Current lifestyle is self-employed. This life comes with its own challenges – far different from those in the working environment. Burdens you wish to have.

[0:23:29] Cycles that this lifestyle requires. Being self-employed seems counter-intuitive. Runs against our own nature and working together.

[0:23:50] The need to work with people. Collaboration. Working with others is the key to success.

[0:24:44] What we perceive is possible and what we actually prove is possible is influenced by a story we are telling.

[0:24:51] Legacy and living a meaningful life.

Autonomy

“When you’re living a creative life you’re constantly in assessment of your surroundings.” – Dave Ursillo

[0:25:17] Travel and living an autonomous lifestyle is not without its own challenges. Yoga teacher training.

[0:26:10] Extraordinarily aware and keen to the senses. The quality of what ‘is’. Visionary qualities. Trying. What that could be. Making that vision a reality.

[0:26:40] Business. Entrepreneurship. Passion. Visualising the future. Burden of responsibility.

[0:27:02] Coming together at conferences. World changing personalities.

What could happen

[0:27:28] The beauty and challenge of being an artist. The challenges are themselves the practice of being a creative. Injury in yoga.

[0:28:38] Endlessly assessing the quality of what is. Rob mentions Greg Hartle. Creativity as our ability to solve problems. Choosing the problems we want to solve.

[0:29:35] Not trying to wear too many hats. Owning too many identities. Fixing one thing at a time and not trying to save the world. The whole sense of innovation. Adaptability. Problem solving. Leadership.

[0:30:20] Not being able to predict where the path is going to take you. Letting the path unfold unpredictably is part of the fun of it. Wants. Needs.

[0:31:02] Leading without followers. Rob asks Dave about what it means to be unapologetically you.

[0:31:28] Rob presents highlights of the second part of this conversation.

“Creativity is a natural bridge into entrepreneurship…two sides of the same coin.” – Dave Ursillo

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Links, people and resources mentioned in this episode:

• Dave Ursillo
• Greg Hartle
• Alive in Berlin*

If you enjoyed this podcast, you’ll also like:

• Dave Ursillo on Living An Authentically Creative Life (Part Two)
• How To Stimulate Your Creative Writing With This One Small Shift
• Sarah Kathleen Peck on The Power of Solitude In Our Hyper-connected World
• Jana Schuberth On The Art of Being Alive, Creating Space and Timeless Trave
• Andrzej Tucholski on Writing For English and Polish Audiences

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