We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Robert Gray a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Robert, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
That is a fabulous question. My purpose seems to change as if it were a stepping stone to my next purpose.
So really, I find my purpose by listening.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Maybe it’s odd, and outside the norm, but my purpose comes to in dreams, or a random first thought in the morning. It has been that way since I was a teenager. My original purpose, or direction was to work in Electronics. At that time, I really wanted to focus in Robotics, but that shifted once I graduated College and started working in Semiconductors working in a clean room, and then latter in labs. About 10 years later, I woke up one morning and my new purpose was to work in the Space career field. A few months later I was in the Air Force and heading to tech-school for space training.
Fast forward to a few years later, I picked up a camera and started teaching myself. I enrolled in college, and by the end of my first photography course, I had my first art show. In 2016, I was to start experimenting to find the gaps in mental health that I was getting through therapy. in 2017 I created a 35mm film piece about my past, in my friends home in my home town. I shared that with the world in an old News Paper factory on 08/26/17 to represent an infinity loop. That series was put in an international art catalogue a few months later. I was scheduled for another art opening in 2018, but I just wasn’t happy with what I was creating at the time. I spoke top the art gallery, and they asked me to reshow my E=Motions series with them.
There was so much growth from that opening, and a lot of layers. People told me their story, and people left crying. One of the art enthusiasts approached me afterwards, and a few weeks later we created the most raw exposure therapy shoot I have ever done. People started approaching me via word of mouth and it became a thing and then I woke up one day and my first thought was to make it nonprofit.
I am still in the Space industry, and I have developed a lot of things, and I broke a lot of things. I have also had a lot of art openings, taught photography and resiliency to Veterans, ran a non profit for Artists in Colorado Springs, and I even held workshops on resiliency at the Lyda Hill Institute.
All of that has lead me to where I am now. I am currently the Artistic Director of Gray Matter Resiliency, where my team and I help people work through trauma, and teach resiliency. Some are one on one, and others are work shops through out the United States. Although we are a new nonprofit, I have been working on my technique for years.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Listen, take ques where needed. Be adaptable, and don’t force the outcome. Network in the community you want to be involved in.
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
Our ideal client is anyone who feels that they are not getting enough out of traditional therapy practices. Our main goal is to help people work through Trauma and learn Resiliency techniques.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.graymatterresiliency.org
- Instagram: GrayMatterResiliency
- Facebook: GrayMatterResiliency
Image Credits
Headshot by Brian Tryon
