Is This You?

Most of the people I work with are artists in one way or another. Even if they would never call themselves that. But they are creative types who are also interested in personal growth and in using the challenges inherent to creativity as a way to become more conscious and fully alive.

Traveling the creative path can be hard. There are many opportunities to get stuck, blocked and bogged down in the quest to live a more creative life. I’ve seen so many incredible and talented people lose heart and forget how amazing they and their gifts truly are. And that is just wrong.

If you are anything like most of my students and clients you know that getting out of your own way and believing in yourself is the biggest challenge to finding yourself happily back in the flow where you are actually being creative again.

Do any of the following scenarios sound familiar?

You have a hunger, a hankering, a yearning to be more creative and you even have a specific creative dream.

 

You have a book that you want to birth or you want to devote yourself to painting or you want to write a bunch of songs and sing them AND record your own CD. Or you want to start a business that is an authentic expression of who you really are.  But something is getting in the way. You’re feeling stuck. You’re not doing it. It’s just not happening.

Every time you even begin to approach it you start to feel really tired, hopeless and depressed. You just don’t think that you’re any good and you are totally convinced that this thing you want to create isn’t going to be any good so you stop yourself before you even get started. But not doing it is as torturous as trying to do it.

 

Somebody somewhere along the way told you that you weren’t very creative or artistic.

 

Maybe you had a brother or an aunt or a parent who was an artist. Which meant that you couldn’t be. Or your third grade teacher, supposed best friend, or art school professor told you to forget it because you had no talent. You have believed that your whole life. Now you’re not so sure that you want to spend the rest of your life buying into that story.

You are a working artist. You are trying to make a living from your art or are at least attempting to make some money.

You feel alone and isolated. You are tired and burnt out from having to do everything on your own. Sometimes it’s just hard to continue to believe in yourself and your art. You get confused about separating the value of your art from how many photographs, paintings or CD’s, you do, or don’t sell. You think that this is just the price you have to pay to be an artist.

You have always known that you were a creative person. But it scared you.

You got lots of messages about how being creative and being an artist were not practical, would lead to a life of poverty and ruination or it wasn’t a worth while path to go down so you stuffed your creative longings away somewhere. It’s not working any longer. Those desires to be creative are getting more and more insistent, more and more intense.

You identify yourself as an artist but you have gotten overly concerned with notions of success and outside approval and so have lost contact with your own creative vision and your own creative voice.

You are painting or writing or making music but the passion and enthusiasm is gone. You’re just going through the motions. You used to be in love with your art. Now it’s become a chore. You just can’t believe that you have gotten here. It’s disheartening  and very sad. You want to find your way back to your authentic creative expression but you just don’t know how.

You couldn’t care less about learning how to do “real” art.

 

You just want a place where you can come and play. You need some time for just you.  You are stressed and overburdened by responsibility and pulled in too many directions  by work, family and other people’s needs. You’re having a very difficult time justifying your desires to be creative and making it a priority. You wish that you could find a little corner in your life where there was no pressure to do anything for anybody else. What you are longing for is a protected haven where you can feel like it’s really OK to finally put yourself first.

 

You are someone who has made self exploration, personal growth and healing an important part of your life.

 

You consider yourself to be a highly sensitive person. You are devoted to living in a healthy, conscious manner and those ideals are reflected in your day to day choices around food, exercise, politics, entertainment and health care. You are someone who identifies with being a cultural creative or living an alternative lifestyle. You are also someone who sees themselves as spiritual but not necessarily religious and you have some kind of meditative or spiritual practice. You are interested in creativity as an inner journey and a path to greater wholeness and would like to be part of a creative community that shares those same values.

 

Any of this hitting close to home?

You probably won’t fit all of the above categories but as you have been scrolling down you might have found yourself saying something along the lines of : “OH WOW. HOLY SMOKES. THAT’S ME!!”

IF you are furiously nodding your head in recognition let me tell you little bit more about what I’m looking for….. There is a certain kind of open, creative and self aware person that I love, love love to have in my classes, groups and one to one practice. So here is a list of some of the qualities and attitudes that you already very likely possess and that I have found will allow our work together to be very, very successful.

 

This is also you!

You are someone who is already on a journey of healing and self discovery.

You’ve done a fair amount of inner work and therapy type things and and have a pretty good sense about who you are, what you are up against and what you would like to change. But you are also someone who just enjoys the process of growing and learning about yourself for the pure pleasure of it.

You are not afraid of the word responsibility especially when it comes to yourself.

You know that what happens in your life is ultimately up to you. But you also recognize that taking responsibility for yourself sometimes means admitting that you can’t always do it all on your own.

You are determined and motivated.

You know that change is not always easy, but you don’t let that dissuade you. You are not afraid of hard work and you are willing to take action when necessary. You are already doing pretty well in many areas of your life, but you are always interested in more opportunities for growth and positive change.

You are open to receiving help, suggestions and support.

You know that you don’t always know all the answers. You are ready to be vulnerable in the service of your greater good.

You are curious and openminded and willing to try new things.

You might be scared. You might protest long and loudly. But in the end your inquisitive nature usually wins out over your more fearful mind.

You are engaged in some kind of practice that allows you to be centered and sane.

It could be something official like meditation. Or It could look like taking a walk in your favorite park and communing with the birds and the trees. Or drawing a bath, lighting a candle and listening to inspirational music at the end of a busy day.  But you carve out some time in your daily life where you can get quiet enough inside to hear yourself think and let yourself feel.

You are committed to your own self care.

Maybe you don’t always eat the way you know you should and your exercise regimen comes and goes. Maybe you work too hard or watch more TV than you wish you did. But you try to be conscious about how you treat yourself. You are making serious attempts to break patterns of self neglect. And you try not to abuse yourself with toxic substances. This is not about being perfect but it is about valuing yourself enough that you make your well being on all levels a priority.

You like to laugh and have fun.

And you’re not afraid to be silly, playful or to expose your goofball self. You don’t take yourself too seriously. And did I mention that you like to laugh??