THE SYNCREATE PODCAST: EMPOWERING CREATIVITY
HOSTED BY MELINDA ROTHOUSE, PHD
WELCOME TO SYNCREATE, WHERE WE EXPLORE THE INTERSECTIONS BETWEEN CREATIVITY,
PSYCHOLOGY,AND SPIRITUALITY. OUR GOAL IS TO DEMYSTIFY THE CREATIVE PROCESS,
AND EXPAND THE BOUNDARIES OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE CREATIVE.
SUBSCRIBE / FOLLOW US ON SPOTIFY, APPLE PODCASTS, YOUTUBE
OR WHEREVER YOU GET YOUR PODCASTS
HOSTED BY MELINDA ROTHOUSE, PHD
WELCOME TO SYNCREATE, WHERE WE EXPLORE THE INTERSECTIONS BETWEEN CREATIVITY,
PSYCHOLOGY,AND SPIRITUALITY. OUR GOAL IS TO DEMYSTIFY THE CREATIVE PROCESS,
AND EXPAND THE BOUNDARIES OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE CREATIVE.
SUBSCRIBE / FOLLOW US ON SPOTIFY, APPLE PODCASTS, YOUTUBE
OR WHEREVER YOU GET YOUR PODCASTS
EPISODE 6: GRATITUDE, GENTLENESS, AND GENEROSITY
WITH MAYELA PADILLA MANASJAN
CLICK ON THE EMBEDDED PLAYER BELOW TO LISTEN:
Melinda & Mayela at Casa Werma
One of the most powerfully creative things we can do as leaders and changemakers in this complex world is to identify and live from our core values. As a creativity and leadership coach and consultant, I always encourage my clients to articulate their core values and utilize them as compass points in their work. My guest in this episode, Mayela Padilla Manasjan, exemplifies this values-driven creative leadership. Mayela is an environmental scientist as well as a poet and photographer. She’s also the Executive Director of Casa Werma, a Buddhist retreat center in Patzcuaro, Mexico. She leads from what she calls her “Three Gs”: gratitude, gentleness, and generosity.
If you enjoy this episode, you might also like our conversation in
Episode 1 on Audio Storytelling with Podcaster and Environmentalist Michael Osborne, PhD.
If you enjoy this episode, you might also like our conversation in
Episode 1 on Audio Storytelling with Podcaster and Environmentalist Michael Osborne, PhD.
EPISODE VIDEO CLIPS
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episode links
Mayela’s Website: www.mayelapadilla.com
Tiny Climate Challenge Podcast
Casa Werma Retreat Center
Maya Angelou
The Climate Reality Project
Mayela’s Poetry Book: Orange Line to Tennessee
Tucson Festival of Books
Tiny Climate Challenge Podcast
Casa Werma Retreat Center
Maya Angelou
The Climate Reality Project
Mayela’s Poetry Book: Orange Line to Tennessee
Tucson Festival of Books
episode transcript
Melinda: Hi everyone! Welcome to Syncreate, a show where we explore the intersections between creativity, psychology, and spirituality. We view creativity broadly, and one of our primary goals is to demystify the creative process. I'm Melinda Rothouse, and I help individuals and organizations bring their creative dreams and visions to life.
Today on the podcast, I'm delighted to be talking with Mayela Manasjan at the beautiful Casa Werma Retreat Center in Patzcuaro, Mexico. Mayela is an environmental scientist and the executive director of Casa Werma, as well as the chief environmental optimist of the Manasjan Consultancy. She's also a poet, photographer, host of the podcast Tiny Climate Challenge, and she works as a mentor with former Vice President Al Gore's Climate Reality Project.
So wow, that's a lot right there to talk about. And I'm really interested to talk with you today about the intersections between creativity, spirituality, and environmental activism. And you do so many different things, so it's kind of like, where do we even start? But just to give a little context, I'm here at Casa Werma, and I’ve been down here a few times before for retreats.
I'm here with my co-teacher, Jake Lorfing, and we're going to be leading a retreat on The Art of Impermanence. So really looking at the Buddhist teachings on impermanence using contemplative arts practice and creativity, and in essence, this retreat is about slowing down, becoming fully present to ourselves and our world, and then creating from that place.
So for you, Mayela, as a lifelong creator and the executive director of a retreat center, how do you understand the connection between creativity and spirituality?
Mayela: Oh, wow. Personally, I just want to say how much more relaxed and calm I feel around you, [laughter] because I have a tendency to just be constantly on the go. And what I love is that when teachers like yourself come around, you can tell who the folks are that have been practicing [laughter] because they're calmer. Sometimes in the U S we say they're Zen, right? Their calmness. But for me, creativity is about being still and about getting in touch with who we are at our core. And for me, it's always about communicating the love that I have in my heart that I want to share with other people, whether it's through my photography, or through my poetry, or even my speaking engagements that I do, you know, everything that I engage in.
I always share with people that I have three G's, which are my core values that I try to live my life by. And that is gratitude, gentleness, and generosity. I like to check in with myself on that regularly. We have all been gifted--we're all creative people, by the way--I know so many people who thought this retreat wasn't for them. And I was like, no, this is for everybody. We all have that creative spirit inside of us. And we just express it differently. But for me, it's about just reconnecting with myself. And some of you all might say like a “higher power.” And then expressing that love through whatever medium it is that I happen to be practicing.
Melinda: I agree completely. I mean, that's part of what I'm trying to do with this podcast, is really broaden what we think of as creativity, because I believe we are all inherently creative as human beings. And so I really want to open that up for people to embrace. So, I want to kind of get into the environmental side of things; we've been talking a lot over the last few days about your career as an environmental scientist and your work with former Vice President Al Gore.
And I know you started your own podcast, Tiny Climate Challenge, as a way to creatively engage with a broader audience. And as the tagline for the podcast says: Help busy people save the planet by completing one simple eco-challenge at a time.
Mayela: That’s right.
Melinda: So tell us a little bit more about that and what was most challenging for you starting a podcast and expressing yourself and stepping out into the world in a new medium.
Mayela: Yeah, that's a great question. So as you mentioned, I had made a career and worked as an environmental scientist for 20 years. And if I might step back into that first question for a second, what I want folks to know is that even if you consider yourself a more logical, rational type person than you do a creative--‘cause we all have both sides of those brains to us--it is so important to be creative as a scientist or as an engineer or as a mathematician or any of those fields.
I would say creativity is key because science is tough to communicate. So I have found that, you know, I'm a photographer as well and you were just sharing some nature photographs with me. That's a great way to communicate what we find in nature, the science of nature, but through the medium of photography.
And there's many different ways that people can go about doing that. But for me, I always had this creative side of me and I felt like I couldn't fully express it because I was supposedly known as a scientist; I had to be in that scientist role. And even though I always had this photographer / poet side of me, it was always kind of like, separate.
And what I realized when I came here is that we are all so multifaceted, and that it's okay to be who we are and to bring it all together if we want to. And so when I find people who are doing just that it gives me so much joy and inspiration. And so the podcast came out of a need to want to amplify what I feel is important for us all to know about the climate crisis.
Now, I have had the hardest time in my life sharing my voice. There are many of us who consider ourselves introverts, and that was certainly me. I've never really felt comfortable speaking publicly, but what I realized is that our climate crisis is so dire, is so important that A) we need all hands on deck, but B) we don't have time to be quiet about this. I felt a responsibility to get out there and see what I could do more. And so that involved going out of the comfort zone, so to speak, and starting a podcast and the Tiny Climate Challenge. Who doesn't love a good challenge? So I thought, well, let's make it fun.
And that's another philosophy that I have in life is if it's not fun, then why are we doing it? So I invite an expert on to come talk about, you name the topic. I like, for instance, I have one on no idling. And so there's someone who came on who talked about all the pollution that's caused every time we get in our cars and we're idling.
And then what I do is I invite just a friend, a regular Joe, as I say, and they do the challenge for a whole week, and how that went for them. And they talk about whether it was difficult or whether it was easier, whether they will keep doing it or not, if they're inspired to keep going, if they're going to share it with other people.
I even had, and this is really cool because I don't always hear the stories about if you tried the challenge or not or how it went, but I did have a friend who's a school teacher who was working, she's retired now, but she was working at a private school and she heard that episode. And because of that, the school put up no idling signs at the entryway, like where the kids get dropped off and picked up. And so now all the parents have to go and park their cars and wait for their kids, but they can't be idling, you know, at the pick-up and drop-off zones.
Melinda: Right. And, I mean, there's so many things there that I love; It's like, you know, giving people one thing that they can try so it's not so overwhelming. It's like, okay, just focus on one thing for a week and then you start to build it into a habit. And then just showing how we all can make a difference in small ways, just starting in our own lives.
Mayela: Absolutely. And here's the other thing that I have told people when I mentioned my three G's, those are my three G's, not because I'm perfect at them, but because I strive to be better at them. And so I am constantly striving to be better. So we just, I think Maya Angelou said it: When we know better, we do better.
Melinda: Right, exactly. And another thing that strikes me about your podcast, I love what you said about, you know, amplifying voices, your voice, other voices. And we've also been talking a lot about what it's like to be living here in Mexico as a Mexican-American woman. And I'm just thinking about all the dominant voices in our society right now, and then all the other voices that are out here that need to be heard, and need to be amplified. And, you know, we have the technology available now so that any one of us could actually start a podcast or find a way to get our message and our voice out there.
Mayela: Yeah. I mean, for the longest time I was like, where's the Mexican American, where's the Latina environmental scientist that I can look up to, the Latina who's doing the climate change podcast, and then when you start to look around and you realize you're not hearing them or seeing them, then you're like, oh, well, maybe it's me.
Melinda: Right, and then maybe you've blazed a trail for other people to follow. And so that actually leads me to, you're working as a mentor in this program with former Vice President Al Gore. Tell me a little bit more about mentoring others in this work.
Mayela: It's one of the things that brings me so much joy. I mean, I'm tearing up just thinking about it because I already mentioned this, but we talk about how daunting our climate crisis is, but we're not alone in this. And that's what I realize when I attend these trainings, whether they're in person or virtual, and I've been to several now over the years. And let me just say that this is for the Climate Reality Project and anybody can attend these trainings. They are available to the public for free. If they're in person, you just have to fly yourself to whatever city they're being held at, and you obviously have to pay for your room and board, your accommodations.
But I think it's just so remarkable that you can go and you can be in a room with former Vice President Al Gore three days in a row. And he's up there and he doesn't just come and welcome you and then take off. He's there the entire time. And he invites all the scientists who can speak to the latest climate science, you know, he's well connected. You know, this last virtual training we had, President Biden just welcomed us. And so I consider myself like a chief cheerleader. And so I'm always like, yeah, welcome, I'm so glad you all are here.
And then I just nurture them, right? And I just tell them, look, if we want to make a difference in the world, we're not going to do it by criticizing others, by beating up on others. I mean, I understand there's a lot to be angry about, and there's a lot to be frustrated about, especially when you feel like the science is clear, but other people just don't get it.
However, the way to get to folks, I always tell people, so you have to get out of your head and you have to get into your heart. And so we have to make connections with people at the heart level. And so that's what I do with all of my mentees and my hope is that they will walk out of that room or out of that training with all that motivation and that fire and go out there and just start having conversations with people around this.
It doesn't have to be difficult. People think, oh, I'm not a climate scientist, therefore I have no business being in this space. But here's what I want you to know about these trainings, is that we get all walks of life. There's so many different ways that we can inspire other people's lives, that this is a place for everybody. And we all live on this planet.
Melinda: Well, and if you think about having an impact, you know, you doing what you've done and sharing what you've learned, and then you’re training these cohorts of people, and then what is the greater impact that each of them willll have as they go out back to the world?
Mayela: Yeah, I have one of my favorite mentees is, well, I have several, if they're listening, they're going to be like, “Hey, you, you didn't mention me,” but the one that comes to mind is I have a dear friend, Abdul Mumin Yussif from Tamale, Ghana. I met him in Los Angeles. I had a whole table of African mentees. I remember at the end of the training, we just hit it off and he was able to connect to resources that he was then able to implement when he got back to Ghana.
And so he's the director of a nonprofit over there and they're doing amazing stuff, educating women and girls and they're trying techniques to do cleaner cooking techniques. And a lot of agriculture work as well. So when I hear about all the amazing work that he's now doing, it just brings so much joy to my heart. And we joke with each other ‘cause he says, like, you're the best mentor ever. And I just tell him and I tell all my other mentees, quite frankly, I was like, you all are my mentors now because you're the ones who are out there hitting the pavement and doing this incredible work in the world. And so that's what gives me joy and hope, quite frankly, because we do need hope. When we're in this line of work or just living on earth, right? That we're gonna get through this. That's what gives me hope.
Melinda: Wonderful. Well, I want to make sure that we get to talk about some of your particular creative work. So, as we've talked about already, you're also a poet and photographer. You recently published your first book of poetry, Orange Line to Tennessee, and you've been hosting a number of events and readings around the book. You were invited to speak as an indie author at the Tucson Festival of Books last month. What was it like to be recognized that way at the festival as a first time published poet?
Mayela: Wow. It was huge. It was everything. I guess maybe I should back up and share a little bit of my family history. Okay, so both my parents are published writers and well known within the Chicano literary community. And my father and my mother started a publishing company in the ‘70s because just as I was talking about the importance of diversity and being seen, they were feeling the same way in that era.
And my dad is a PhD in English literature. And so he's all about, you know, giving props to our famous American writers, but there weren't enough published Chicano writers, and so they started this publishing company. It's called Lalo Press, because they wanted to give a voice to Chicano writers and particularly they wanted to focus on female writers and to promote them. And I grew up with that. And because of that…
Melinda: Yeah. It’s kind-of like a blessing and a curse in a way, right?
Mayela: A blessing and a curse, yes. I grew up with knowing all of these fantastically creative people and you know, getting that energy from them and having that same interest as well, but also comparing myself, in many ways to my parents and to their friends, and feeling like maybe I didn't quite measure up, but also recognizing that I had this other talent, other interests in science and stuff. And so, you know, kind of spent my life pursuing that. So basically what I'm trying to say is I've come full circle. And I have now outed myself as a creative, as a poet, and it all came from COVID times.
Melinda: Mm hmm. As so many creative works arose during the pandemic; people kind of locked away by themselves, got really creative.
Mayela: Yeah. And I had a conversation with a really dear friend who also happens to be a wonderful writer and he said, you know, you got to get over yourself. I mean, he was like, very matter of fact, it was so sweet. And he's just like, you got to get over yourself and you need to get this out because it's important.
Again, it all comes back to our voices that each and every one of you, your voice matters, and that it's important that you share your voice with the world. And so I think it took that particular conversation in order to push me out there because I had had these conversations actually with my parents and my best friend, and they're always going to have your back and they're always going to tell you that your stuff is great, but it kind of took this extra conversation with someone else to recognize that the work was good, or good enough, that it needed to get out there. So I said, all right, we're gonna go for it.
Melinda: Awesome. So, not to put you on the spot, but do you have a poem from the book that you could share with us?
Mayela: I do. This one's called An Inconvenient Truth. But primarily what this is about is about our personal relationships, the power that we all have, and our privilege. And so what I ask folks to do is to listen to this poem and to be somewhat introspective. And identify what your privilege is, or your privileges are, and what you can do to help make this world a better place for yourself and for everyone else in it. That's the invitation.
An Inconvenient Truth.
Just across the bay, there is a poem carefully curated by the two of us. As brave new explorers, we were called forward into this invisible universe, transported to new shorelines with new landscapes that breathe new life forms. We could not ignore the whisper campaign. Look ahead. Look around the corner, look into your future, find your questions, find your answers, find what you want to say, even if you don't say it.
Find your courage, find your freedom, find where love lives. Our poem is fleeting, and it is eternal. It's how we wanted it to be perfect, and then it wasn't. It's the way we wanted to attain an unattainable desire to save each other, and everyone in the world, past, present, and future, completely caught up in the moment.
It was all too convenient. And then came, the inconvenient truth. We were standing there in Sausalito because someone else was not.
Melinda: Beautiful. Thank you. Muchas gracias!
Mayela: Thank you.
Melinda: So one last thing I want to ask you about. So back to your three G's of gratitude, gentleness, and generosity. What's next for you creatively and professionally?
Mayela: So I've been the executive director of this meditation retreat center here for four years. And prior to that, I worked as an environmental scientist. So some might say that is a big life change.
Melinda: Yes. And yet, it's connected.
Mayela: It is! Because, again, we're all so multifaceted, right? And Buddhism and my practice and my spiritual path have always been a part of who I am. And so, when I came to Mexico, it was an opportunity for me to express that side of myself in a way that I hadn't fully been able to prior to.
However, when you go somewhere, when you are considering a life change that is that radical, it is important to do some soul searching. And so I remember telling my husband, “Hey, if we're going to uproot our entire lives and we're going to move from San Diego to the heart of Mexico, I think we need to go there and we need to see what Casa Werma is all about.” And so I remember coming here, and this place is known for its magic, people. I just want you to, I mean, not just its beauty, but...
Melinda: You can see just a tiny taste of it behind us, but these gardens, I liken it to the Garden of Eden.
Mayela: Yes. It's definitely a small slice of paradise here on Earth. But there's also a real sense of power and magic here, and it's existed here for thousands of years. So when I came here to decide if this was the place for me, I decided to do a retreat here. And I had a flash of inspiration halfway through the week in which I had to run to my room and I had to look for a pen, pencil, whatever. I had this idea for this book in my mind for years, actually. I had the title.
I had the working title and it's called Greeting the Earth with Gratitude, Gentleness, and Generosity. But I didn't know what the contents of the book would be. And so, in this flash of inspiration, I received an outline of all three sections of the book. I furiously wrote them down and was just...like so shocked because our creativity doesn't always come to us like that.
And I got to tell you, like, I felt like not only a great sense of relief afterwards, but of exhaustion also. And so I decided that this is the place for me. This is where I'm meant to be because this is where I am channeling my creative self. So I have a book that at first I thought it would be for adults, but I figured the easiest, quickest, best way to get it out is as a children's book.
So it's going to have a combination of what we do in our meditation practice; so it's a spiritual book for kids, but also a book about the importance of taking care of our planet. And yeah, so that's what's maybe coming next. I don't know. Sometimes other books get in the way, other projects get in the way.
Melinda: That's right. That's right. And there's something about being in this place, and I can attest to it too, you know, that's why I think it's so important to take time for retreat, especially as creatives. Because sometimes when we're just in the midst of our everyday lives, you know, we need a little bit of time and space to nurture our ideas.
And sometimes when we allow ourselves that, it doesn't take that much time. And all of a sudden it's like the floodgates open. So, well, thank you so much. I can't wait to see where this journey takes you from here. And I'm so glad that we got to do this together in person, while I’m here! All the other ones, well, I've recorded in person in Austin, but this is my first, you know, on-location recording. So thank you so much.
Mayela: Thank you for inviting me to be a part of your podcast. Thank you for all you're doing in the world. Thank you to all your listeners for being here with us. And for just being beings on this earth with all of us, for being on this journey with us, I guess.
Melinda: And celebrating our collective creativity,
Mayela: And our shared humanity.
Melinda: Exactly. So before we finish, how can people find you?
Mayela: Oh, yeah. Well, I have many different personalities online. So if you want to get in touch with me through my work in Tiny Climate, you can find me at Tiny Climate on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (although I don't know how much longer I'll be in the Twitterverse). But in any case, and, if you want find me through my writing, you can find me at Mayela Padilla, which is my maiden name. P A D I L L A. So, I probably should spell my first name too: mayelapadilla.com.
Melinda: And we'll of course provide these links as well with the website.
Mayela: Thank you so much. This was so fun. It's been such a pleasure.
Melinda: Thanks again to Mayela Manasjan for the conversation. You can find out more about her work at www.tinyclimate.com and www.mayelapadilla.com.
This episode was produced by Mike Osborne with production assistance by Christian Haigis. Find us at www.syncreate.org or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, where you can also find out more about Syncreate. Thanks for listening and see you next time.
Today on the podcast, I'm delighted to be talking with Mayela Manasjan at the beautiful Casa Werma Retreat Center in Patzcuaro, Mexico. Mayela is an environmental scientist and the executive director of Casa Werma, as well as the chief environmental optimist of the Manasjan Consultancy. She's also a poet, photographer, host of the podcast Tiny Climate Challenge, and she works as a mentor with former Vice President Al Gore's Climate Reality Project.
So wow, that's a lot right there to talk about. And I'm really interested to talk with you today about the intersections between creativity, spirituality, and environmental activism. And you do so many different things, so it's kind of like, where do we even start? But just to give a little context, I'm here at Casa Werma, and I’ve been down here a few times before for retreats.
I'm here with my co-teacher, Jake Lorfing, and we're going to be leading a retreat on The Art of Impermanence. So really looking at the Buddhist teachings on impermanence using contemplative arts practice and creativity, and in essence, this retreat is about slowing down, becoming fully present to ourselves and our world, and then creating from that place.
So for you, Mayela, as a lifelong creator and the executive director of a retreat center, how do you understand the connection between creativity and spirituality?
Mayela: Oh, wow. Personally, I just want to say how much more relaxed and calm I feel around you, [laughter] because I have a tendency to just be constantly on the go. And what I love is that when teachers like yourself come around, you can tell who the folks are that have been practicing [laughter] because they're calmer. Sometimes in the U S we say they're Zen, right? Their calmness. But for me, creativity is about being still and about getting in touch with who we are at our core. And for me, it's always about communicating the love that I have in my heart that I want to share with other people, whether it's through my photography, or through my poetry, or even my speaking engagements that I do, you know, everything that I engage in.
I always share with people that I have three G's, which are my core values that I try to live my life by. And that is gratitude, gentleness, and generosity. I like to check in with myself on that regularly. We have all been gifted--we're all creative people, by the way--I know so many people who thought this retreat wasn't for them. And I was like, no, this is for everybody. We all have that creative spirit inside of us. And we just express it differently. But for me, it's about just reconnecting with myself. And some of you all might say like a “higher power.” And then expressing that love through whatever medium it is that I happen to be practicing.
Melinda: I agree completely. I mean, that's part of what I'm trying to do with this podcast, is really broaden what we think of as creativity, because I believe we are all inherently creative as human beings. And so I really want to open that up for people to embrace. So, I want to kind of get into the environmental side of things; we've been talking a lot over the last few days about your career as an environmental scientist and your work with former Vice President Al Gore.
And I know you started your own podcast, Tiny Climate Challenge, as a way to creatively engage with a broader audience. And as the tagline for the podcast says: Help busy people save the planet by completing one simple eco-challenge at a time.
Mayela: That’s right.
Melinda: So tell us a little bit more about that and what was most challenging for you starting a podcast and expressing yourself and stepping out into the world in a new medium.
Mayela: Yeah, that's a great question. So as you mentioned, I had made a career and worked as an environmental scientist for 20 years. And if I might step back into that first question for a second, what I want folks to know is that even if you consider yourself a more logical, rational type person than you do a creative--‘cause we all have both sides of those brains to us--it is so important to be creative as a scientist or as an engineer or as a mathematician or any of those fields.
I would say creativity is key because science is tough to communicate. So I have found that, you know, I'm a photographer as well and you were just sharing some nature photographs with me. That's a great way to communicate what we find in nature, the science of nature, but through the medium of photography.
And there's many different ways that people can go about doing that. But for me, I always had this creative side of me and I felt like I couldn't fully express it because I was supposedly known as a scientist; I had to be in that scientist role. And even though I always had this photographer / poet side of me, it was always kind of like, separate.
And what I realized when I came here is that we are all so multifaceted, and that it's okay to be who we are and to bring it all together if we want to. And so when I find people who are doing just that it gives me so much joy and inspiration. And so the podcast came out of a need to want to amplify what I feel is important for us all to know about the climate crisis.
Now, I have had the hardest time in my life sharing my voice. There are many of us who consider ourselves introverts, and that was certainly me. I've never really felt comfortable speaking publicly, but what I realized is that our climate crisis is so dire, is so important that A) we need all hands on deck, but B) we don't have time to be quiet about this. I felt a responsibility to get out there and see what I could do more. And so that involved going out of the comfort zone, so to speak, and starting a podcast and the Tiny Climate Challenge. Who doesn't love a good challenge? So I thought, well, let's make it fun.
And that's another philosophy that I have in life is if it's not fun, then why are we doing it? So I invite an expert on to come talk about, you name the topic. I like, for instance, I have one on no idling. And so there's someone who came on who talked about all the pollution that's caused every time we get in our cars and we're idling.
And then what I do is I invite just a friend, a regular Joe, as I say, and they do the challenge for a whole week, and how that went for them. And they talk about whether it was difficult or whether it was easier, whether they will keep doing it or not, if they're inspired to keep going, if they're going to share it with other people.
I even had, and this is really cool because I don't always hear the stories about if you tried the challenge or not or how it went, but I did have a friend who's a school teacher who was working, she's retired now, but she was working at a private school and she heard that episode. And because of that, the school put up no idling signs at the entryway, like where the kids get dropped off and picked up. And so now all the parents have to go and park their cars and wait for their kids, but they can't be idling, you know, at the pick-up and drop-off zones.
Melinda: Right. And, I mean, there's so many things there that I love; It's like, you know, giving people one thing that they can try so it's not so overwhelming. It's like, okay, just focus on one thing for a week and then you start to build it into a habit. And then just showing how we all can make a difference in small ways, just starting in our own lives.
Mayela: Absolutely. And here's the other thing that I have told people when I mentioned my three G's, those are my three G's, not because I'm perfect at them, but because I strive to be better at them. And so I am constantly striving to be better. So we just, I think Maya Angelou said it: When we know better, we do better.
Melinda: Right, exactly. And another thing that strikes me about your podcast, I love what you said about, you know, amplifying voices, your voice, other voices. And we've also been talking a lot about what it's like to be living here in Mexico as a Mexican-American woman. And I'm just thinking about all the dominant voices in our society right now, and then all the other voices that are out here that need to be heard, and need to be amplified. And, you know, we have the technology available now so that any one of us could actually start a podcast or find a way to get our message and our voice out there.
Mayela: Yeah. I mean, for the longest time I was like, where's the Mexican American, where's the Latina environmental scientist that I can look up to, the Latina who's doing the climate change podcast, and then when you start to look around and you realize you're not hearing them or seeing them, then you're like, oh, well, maybe it's me.
Melinda: Right, and then maybe you've blazed a trail for other people to follow. And so that actually leads me to, you're working as a mentor in this program with former Vice President Al Gore. Tell me a little bit more about mentoring others in this work.
Mayela: It's one of the things that brings me so much joy. I mean, I'm tearing up just thinking about it because I already mentioned this, but we talk about how daunting our climate crisis is, but we're not alone in this. And that's what I realize when I attend these trainings, whether they're in person or virtual, and I've been to several now over the years. And let me just say that this is for the Climate Reality Project and anybody can attend these trainings. They are available to the public for free. If they're in person, you just have to fly yourself to whatever city they're being held at, and you obviously have to pay for your room and board, your accommodations.
But I think it's just so remarkable that you can go and you can be in a room with former Vice President Al Gore three days in a row. And he's up there and he doesn't just come and welcome you and then take off. He's there the entire time. And he invites all the scientists who can speak to the latest climate science, you know, he's well connected. You know, this last virtual training we had, President Biden just welcomed us. And so I consider myself like a chief cheerleader. And so I'm always like, yeah, welcome, I'm so glad you all are here.
And then I just nurture them, right? And I just tell them, look, if we want to make a difference in the world, we're not going to do it by criticizing others, by beating up on others. I mean, I understand there's a lot to be angry about, and there's a lot to be frustrated about, especially when you feel like the science is clear, but other people just don't get it.
However, the way to get to folks, I always tell people, so you have to get out of your head and you have to get into your heart. And so we have to make connections with people at the heart level. And so that's what I do with all of my mentees and my hope is that they will walk out of that room or out of that training with all that motivation and that fire and go out there and just start having conversations with people around this.
It doesn't have to be difficult. People think, oh, I'm not a climate scientist, therefore I have no business being in this space. But here's what I want you to know about these trainings, is that we get all walks of life. There's so many different ways that we can inspire other people's lives, that this is a place for everybody. And we all live on this planet.
Melinda: Well, and if you think about having an impact, you know, you doing what you've done and sharing what you've learned, and then you’re training these cohorts of people, and then what is the greater impact that each of them willll have as they go out back to the world?
Mayela: Yeah, I have one of my favorite mentees is, well, I have several, if they're listening, they're going to be like, “Hey, you, you didn't mention me,” but the one that comes to mind is I have a dear friend, Abdul Mumin Yussif from Tamale, Ghana. I met him in Los Angeles. I had a whole table of African mentees. I remember at the end of the training, we just hit it off and he was able to connect to resources that he was then able to implement when he got back to Ghana.
And so he's the director of a nonprofit over there and they're doing amazing stuff, educating women and girls and they're trying techniques to do cleaner cooking techniques. And a lot of agriculture work as well. So when I hear about all the amazing work that he's now doing, it just brings so much joy to my heart. And we joke with each other ‘cause he says, like, you're the best mentor ever. And I just tell him and I tell all my other mentees, quite frankly, I was like, you all are my mentors now because you're the ones who are out there hitting the pavement and doing this incredible work in the world. And so that's what gives me joy and hope, quite frankly, because we do need hope. When we're in this line of work or just living on earth, right? That we're gonna get through this. That's what gives me hope.
Melinda: Wonderful. Well, I want to make sure that we get to talk about some of your particular creative work. So, as we've talked about already, you're also a poet and photographer. You recently published your first book of poetry, Orange Line to Tennessee, and you've been hosting a number of events and readings around the book. You were invited to speak as an indie author at the Tucson Festival of Books last month. What was it like to be recognized that way at the festival as a first time published poet?
Mayela: Wow. It was huge. It was everything. I guess maybe I should back up and share a little bit of my family history. Okay, so both my parents are published writers and well known within the Chicano literary community. And my father and my mother started a publishing company in the ‘70s because just as I was talking about the importance of diversity and being seen, they were feeling the same way in that era.
And my dad is a PhD in English literature. And so he's all about, you know, giving props to our famous American writers, but there weren't enough published Chicano writers, and so they started this publishing company. It's called Lalo Press, because they wanted to give a voice to Chicano writers and particularly they wanted to focus on female writers and to promote them. And I grew up with that. And because of that…
Melinda: Yeah. It’s kind-of like a blessing and a curse in a way, right?
Mayela: A blessing and a curse, yes. I grew up with knowing all of these fantastically creative people and you know, getting that energy from them and having that same interest as well, but also comparing myself, in many ways to my parents and to their friends, and feeling like maybe I didn't quite measure up, but also recognizing that I had this other talent, other interests in science and stuff. And so, you know, kind of spent my life pursuing that. So basically what I'm trying to say is I've come full circle. And I have now outed myself as a creative, as a poet, and it all came from COVID times.
Melinda: Mm hmm. As so many creative works arose during the pandemic; people kind of locked away by themselves, got really creative.
Mayela: Yeah. And I had a conversation with a really dear friend who also happens to be a wonderful writer and he said, you know, you got to get over yourself. I mean, he was like, very matter of fact, it was so sweet. And he's just like, you got to get over yourself and you need to get this out because it's important.
Again, it all comes back to our voices that each and every one of you, your voice matters, and that it's important that you share your voice with the world. And so I think it took that particular conversation in order to push me out there because I had had these conversations actually with my parents and my best friend, and they're always going to have your back and they're always going to tell you that your stuff is great, but it kind of took this extra conversation with someone else to recognize that the work was good, or good enough, that it needed to get out there. So I said, all right, we're gonna go for it.
Melinda: Awesome. So, not to put you on the spot, but do you have a poem from the book that you could share with us?
Mayela: I do. This one's called An Inconvenient Truth. But primarily what this is about is about our personal relationships, the power that we all have, and our privilege. And so what I ask folks to do is to listen to this poem and to be somewhat introspective. And identify what your privilege is, or your privileges are, and what you can do to help make this world a better place for yourself and for everyone else in it. That's the invitation.
An Inconvenient Truth.
Just across the bay, there is a poem carefully curated by the two of us. As brave new explorers, we were called forward into this invisible universe, transported to new shorelines with new landscapes that breathe new life forms. We could not ignore the whisper campaign. Look ahead. Look around the corner, look into your future, find your questions, find your answers, find what you want to say, even if you don't say it.
Find your courage, find your freedom, find where love lives. Our poem is fleeting, and it is eternal. It's how we wanted it to be perfect, and then it wasn't. It's the way we wanted to attain an unattainable desire to save each other, and everyone in the world, past, present, and future, completely caught up in the moment.
It was all too convenient. And then came, the inconvenient truth. We were standing there in Sausalito because someone else was not.
Melinda: Beautiful. Thank you. Muchas gracias!
Mayela: Thank you.
Melinda: So one last thing I want to ask you about. So back to your three G's of gratitude, gentleness, and generosity. What's next for you creatively and professionally?
Mayela: So I've been the executive director of this meditation retreat center here for four years. And prior to that, I worked as an environmental scientist. So some might say that is a big life change.
Melinda: Yes. And yet, it's connected.
Mayela: It is! Because, again, we're all so multifaceted, right? And Buddhism and my practice and my spiritual path have always been a part of who I am. And so, when I came to Mexico, it was an opportunity for me to express that side of myself in a way that I hadn't fully been able to prior to.
However, when you go somewhere, when you are considering a life change that is that radical, it is important to do some soul searching. And so I remember telling my husband, “Hey, if we're going to uproot our entire lives and we're going to move from San Diego to the heart of Mexico, I think we need to go there and we need to see what Casa Werma is all about.” And so I remember coming here, and this place is known for its magic, people. I just want you to, I mean, not just its beauty, but...
Melinda: You can see just a tiny taste of it behind us, but these gardens, I liken it to the Garden of Eden.
Mayela: Yes. It's definitely a small slice of paradise here on Earth. But there's also a real sense of power and magic here, and it's existed here for thousands of years. So when I came here to decide if this was the place for me, I decided to do a retreat here. And I had a flash of inspiration halfway through the week in which I had to run to my room and I had to look for a pen, pencil, whatever. I had this idea for this book in my mind for years, actually. I had the title.
I had the working title and it's called Greeting the Earth with Gratitude, Gentleness, and Generosity. But I didn't know what the contents of the book would be. And so, in this flash of inspiration, I received an outline of all three sections of the book. I furiously wrote them down and was just...like so shocked because our creativity doesn't always come to us like that.
And I got to tell you, like, I felt like not only a great sense of relief afterwards, but of exhaustion also. And so I decided that this is the place for me. This is where I'm meant to be because this is where I am channeling my creative self. So I have a book that at first I thought it would be for adults, but I figured the easiest, quickest, best way to get it out is as a children's book.
So it's going to have a combination of what we do in our meditation practice; so it's a spiritual book for kids, but also a book about the importance of taking care of our planet. And yeah, so that's what's maybe coming next. I don't know. Sometimes other books get in the way, other projects get in the way.
Melinda: That's right. That's right. And there's something about being in this place, and I can attest to it too, you know, that's why I think it's so important to take time for retreat, especially as creatives. Because sometimes when we're just in the midst of our everyday lives, you know, we need a little bit of time and space to nurture our ideas.
And sometimes when we allow ourselves that, it doesn't take that much time. And all of a sudden it's like the floodgates open. So, well, thank you so much. I can't wait to see where this journey takes you from here. And I'm so glad that we got to do this together in person, while I’m here! All the other ones, well, I've recorded in person in Austin, but this is my first, you know, on-location recording. So thank you so much.
Mayela: Thank you for inviting me to be a part of your podcast. Thank you for all you're doing in the world. Thank you to all your listeners for being here with us. And for just being beings on this earth with all of us, for being on this journey with us, I guess.
Melinda: And celebrating our collective creativity,
Mayela: And our shared humanity.
Melinda: Exactly. So before we finish, how can people find you?
Mayela: Oh, yeah. Well, I have many different personalities online. So if you want to get in touch with me through my work in Tiny Climate, you can find me at Tiny Climate on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (although I don't know how much longer I'll be in the Twitterverse). But in any case, and, if you want find me through my writing, you can find me at Mayela Padilla, which is my maiden name. P A D I L L A. So, I probably should spell my first name too: mayelapadilla.com.
Melinda: And we'll of course provide these links as well with the website.
Mayela: Thank you so much. This was so fun. It's been such a pleasure.
Melinda: Thanks again to Mayela Manasjan for the conversation. You can find out more about her work at www.tinyclimate.com and www.mayelapadilla.com.
This episode was produced by Mike Osborne with production assistance by Christian Haigis. Find us at www.syncreate.org or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, where you can also find out more about Syncreate. Thanks for listening and see you next time.
