The Artist’s Journey E3 - How to Live Longer & Be Happy – Health, Longevity

Welcome to Episode 3 of The Artist’s Journey! Join Jo Bowers, PhD, as we explore the deep connections between art, health, longevity, and happiness.

Discover how art appreciation and creativity can nurture your mind, body, and spirit, and why art is more than a commodity—it’s a lifestyle and a path to wellbeing.

In this episode: The science behind art, longevity, and happiness Art as a form of custodianship and sovereignty How engaging with art transforms your brain and life The importance of nurturing your mind as a living landscape Stories behind powerful artworks like ‘Mi’kmaq Six Worlds’ Practical ways to integrate art into your daily life for better health

✨ Sponsored by OzFineArt.Au – Explore, collect, and connect with art that inspires transformation.

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00:00 – Introduction: The Power of Art & Heartbeat
00:48 – About The Artist’s Journey & OzFineArt
01:22 – Art Therapy, Community, and Invitation
01:44 – Body, Spirit, and the Modern World
02:10 – Science, Longevity, and the Sacred
02:47 – Art as Creation, Not Consumption
03:33 – Art as Custodianship & Sovereignty
04:53 – The Mind as a Canvas: Nurturing Memory
05:41 – The Cognitive Workout of Art
06:41 – ‘Mi’kmaq Six Worlds’: Art as Living Cosmology
08:07 – Participating in Art’s Narrative
08:59 – Art, Neurology, and Becoming
09:47 – Call to Action: Like, Subscribe, and Comment
10:16 – Substack & Website Invitation
10:54 – Art as Lifestyle, Not a Magic Pill
11:36 – Art, Brain Chemistry, and Longevity
12:45 – Custodianship, Identity, and Story
13:38 – Creative Process & The Artist’s Journey
14:30 – Closing Thoughts & Art Collecting Invitation
14:46 – Thank You & How to Connect

Keywords: art, longevity, happiness, wellbeing, Jo Bowers, The Artist’s Journey, OzFineArt, art therapy, creativity, health, mental health, art and science, art as lifestyle, custodianship, sovereignty, brain health, art appreciation, art and medicine, art community, art collecting, self-development, mindfulness, neuroscience, art stories, Mi’kmaq Six Worlds, Substack, Apple Podcasts

Full Raw Transcript:

How to Live Longer & Be Happy - Health Longevity & The Artist’s Journey E3 with Jo Bowers PhD

[00:00:00] When you look at art, what do you see? When I look at you looking at art, I see your heartbeat. Your gaze is as important as your heartbeat, your art appreciation, your actually seeing the color is as important as medicine. I see a person who has disconnected from their core self. I see a person that is floating, that is unanchored. In the modern world, we have separated the body from the spirit. We have separated medicine from the soul.

[00:00:48] This is the Artist Journey. I’m your host, Joe Bowers PhD. Our show appears natively on OzFineArt YouTube on the OzFineArt Collective on [00:01:00] Substack and in Apple Podcasts. Our show, ‘The Artist Journey’ is sponsored by OzFineArt.Au, an artist scholar, practitioner inspired project that combines artfulness transformative agency and the sacred business of nurturing relationships in our interconnected world.

[00:01:21] Art therapy. Business, leadership and marketing. Please join our community at OzFineArt.Au. Consider purchasing our beautiful artworks. And please remember to sign up for our bimonthly periodical. We look forward to seeing you. Thank you so much.

[00:01:43] In the modern world, we have separated the body from the spirit. We have separated medicine from the soul.

[00:01:54] One has become a rather formal and scientific [00:02:00] type of approach over the last couple of hundred years, and the other is at the fringes, and yet.

[00:02:10] The scientific research, particularly in longevity and health, in wellbeing and mental capacity, all of these areas throughout psychology and the sociology of the body are revealing a different story emerging at the frontier of science. And that is: the deepest connections draw us into our truth. Give us a sense of the sacred. And these are vital to not only our wellbeing, but our living a long and happy life.

[00:02:47] What if the path to living a longer and healthier life was not about what we consume, but rather it’s about what we [00:03:00] create. What if what we create is an aspect of simply what we choose to participate in, what we choose to witness? This is a powerful, powerful truth. It’s at the core of longevity and science.

[00:03:20] Today. We’re not talking about art so much as a commodity, but we’re looking at art as a lifestyle, as a way of being.

[00:03:33] So I share with you one of the deepest, greatest secrets in the art world. That art itself is a form of custodianship. And custodianship is a way for us to reclaim our sense of sovereignty, our independence, our interdependence. [00:04:00] Our relational truth, our sense of family and community, our cultural place, our cultural meaning, our identity art is a custodial act of sovereignty.

[00:04:18] And as such, let’s explore together what this means at the coalface. At the intersection of our action and thought, when we gaze upon a piece of art, our heart and soul, our body is responsive. And so that gaze holds power. And that truth is at the core of art as a lifestyle of self-creation.

[00:04:53] Our first lesson is that the mind is a canvas. [00:05:00] Art is actually a cognitive nurturing, and in the sense our minds are not filling cabinets. We’re not filling up data centers in our brains. What is actually happening is our minds are a living landscape of memory, and like any landscape, it needs to be tended.

[00:05:24] You need to care and nurture your mind. You need to weed at times and take care, and this means taking an active role in learning and self-development. I.

[00:05:40] This first lesson is so vital, so important because when you gaze at a piece of art, you’re not just looking at a piece of art. You are engaging your mind in a responsive relational act, an act of [00:06:00] sovereign presence that gives your body, your heart, your being, and your neural network. Information and a responsive experience.

[00:06:15] And the experiential moment of gazing upon art literally gives your brain a workout. And this is so important to understand the active, participatory relational layers of our, of our interaction with art is a form of self-creation.

[00:06:41] Look at a painting like a ‘Mi’kmaq Six Worlds’ that we completed in the past. It’s not just a pretty picture or a piece of art per se. It’s actually a narrative story, a story of creation, a story of [00:07:00] interaction, and of people’s lives at various levels. It’s not just an image, it’s a living cosmology, a cultural worldview.

[00:07:10] And as such, this aspect of the painting encourages the viewer to participate in that narrative, to use the imaginal sense, and to engage in this cosmological exploration of the world of the six worlds. And what do they mean and where are they and how do we get there? And what do we find and who do we meet?

[00:07:39] And what happens along the way, and all of these aspects, fire neuro networks in our brains, our neurology responds and we get a good cognitive workout. Looking at this artwork and coming to terms with our [00:08:00] experience as we go through this journey of becoming.

[00:08:07] Please like and subscribe to this channel and share it with somebody that you care about. And if you’ve enjoyed this, we just appreciate you leaving some comments below. And. Giving us some feedback and sharing your insights and your experience of art. Art as an experience is meant to be shared with others.

[00:08:31] Be bold and courageous and put yourself out there and share some comments below. We also run a Substack newsletter, which comes out at least bimonthly. And you can find us at OzFineArt.Au, and you can subscribe there to our newsletter, OzFineArt.Au is a beautiful and brand new website and I encourage you to visit [00:09:00] and spend some time gazing upon the artwork.

[00:09:03] Pulling them up, looking at them, reading their stories and learning about art as a form of custodial sovereignty. How beautiful, how gorgeous. Thank you so much. And so really, custodianship is not about winning a prize. It’s more about a steady and ongoing nurturing of self, a depth of connection that we experience and that we grow within in a meaningful way.

[00:09:40] It’s not a, not a magic pill or a medicine that we swallow, but rather it is a way of life, a lifestyle shift that engages our neurology. Our emotions, our minds, our beings, our relational sense [00:10:00] in all of these levels. In a holistic sense, art is a form of becoming. And this aspect is proven within the scientific literature to

[00:10:16] engage in positive chemical releases in the brain that promote wellbeing, emotional stability, cognitive functions, and to reduce the vagaries of growing older and increasing our longevity. It’s a powerful practice that helps us to move more fully, to engage not only in physical activity, but in mental activity. Meaningful and mental activity that connects us to objects of value, to stories, to the heart of custodianship, which is [00:11:00] truly a sense of our taking heed.

[00:11:05] Of living in a responsive way of having responsibility for what we care for, for who we are. When we engage in art, we become custodians of our own cognitive truth, of our own identities. We become custodians of our own story. Our narrative begins to emerge. We begin to understand who we are. Our identities grow and our custodial role

[00:11:38] becomes a way of sharing forward nurturing others and helping future generations to learn these skills of becoming.

[00:11:52] This is the same for us in the sense of our being creators with the [00:12:00] Creator. We are problem solving. We are engaging in a creative way of analyzing and understanding. We are learning new skills, we’re gaining new knowledge. We’re translating the knowledge that exists within our memory, the landscapes of our minds, and literally changing the colors.

[00:12:26] Changing the textures, changing and upskilling the aspects of the objects and stories that make up the corridors of our minds. The chambers of our soul. And in such that creative process is universal. This is part of all of us, and it is central to ‘The Artist’s Journey.’. And my gosh, isn’t this an amazing process?

[00:12:56] This is becoming, this is [00:13:00] creating, this is a sacred act of sovereignty. This is custodianship in practice.

[00:13:10] Thank you again for being with us today, and I just wanted to also mention we really appreciate your being with us. You’re spending your valuable time and I affirm that it’s so wonderful. Thank you. The paintings behind me has been delightful to share with you also in the background, and these paintings are available at our website, OzFineArt.Au. You can visit our website and explore the paintings and learn about them and read their narratives, their stories, which are developed for your wellbeing, for your appreciation for your capacity to engage with art as a form of lifestyle and self-creation. We [00:14:00] encourage those among you who want to acquire our art to become collectors of our art.

[00:14:06] Please dive in and get in touch with us and we can discuss your acquisition and how we can help you to purchase our artwork. Thank you so much. Have a great day.