Your path is your alone
It's natural for us to compare ourselves to others. Maybe you see someone on their own path who seems to be really successful in their creative career. Maybe someone who always seems to be making more money than you or who is in a happy relationship. And you begin to beat up on yourself. You ask yourself "Why can't I get it together and find my own version of success". Maybe you've even tried to follow the tools or techniques of other people and it hasn't worked out.
I just want to remind you that your Dharma or life's path is yours and yours alone. Your view of success is yours alone. In most of the NDE's that I've read, success was not based on what they DID or achieved, but on learning the lessons that they've come to learn. Success was based on living a joyful and love-filled existence and creating the work that was calling them so they could share their uniqueness with the world.
Inner Child work for Creatives explained!
Your inner child is your most creative self.
Your inner child has access to all of the creativity, motivation, inspiration, intuition, and your most authentic expression. They are your key to creating your most fulfilling work with more ease, fun, and flow.
Your art is a gift
I had a couple of conversations recently that made me think. Why do we keep creating art when it’s so often not the easiest route? I made a short video about this that you can watch above.
To summarize… I think that all of us have two things that we want in life:
One of them is to uncover our most authentic self. Our what I call our core creative essence. This is who you are at your core. This is what people see when they look at your artwork because it comes through and it touches them. It's sparks, joy and connection to them. That's your essence.
What I learned during my two-week break from media
For much of this year, my mind has felt like a chaotic space. I've had trouble hearing from my intuition, my emotions have been running wild, and it's been a struggle to get in touch with my body.
So while on vacation in Los Angeles a few weeks ago, I spent a lot of quiet time at our Topanga Airbnb. Sitting on the swinging chair in the wild, sprawling, cactus garden watching the lizards and listening to the birds, I was still fighting my mind and wanting to plan my life out. But my inner voice began coming back to me.
I heard the words RADICAL ACCEPTANCE.
My favorite galleries & museums in Seattle
If you’re interested in art, look no further. Seattle has a dynamic arts scene featuring a wide range of talent. From the First Thursday Art Walk of sophisticated galleries along the streets of Pioneer Square to various galleries and exhibits, you’re sure to find some unique art pieces perfect for your home.
Want to take the next in step your creative calling? Check your assumptions.
In my experience, the biggest blocks to our growth and dreams are our ASSUMPTIONS. We all have assumptions about what we can and can't do. This can hold us back from dreaming bigger or opening up to what is possible in our life. We are aware of some of these, while others are so deeply embedded that they're like the air we breathe.
The problem with finding your focus too fast
What is the very first thing that you want to do when you feel stuck? You want to make a plan to get unstuck, right? That's why you hire a coach. That's why you try to find somebody outside of yourself, maybe to find some kind of a fix or formula, to find your focus, because your brain always wants to keep you safe.
Formulas are great if you want to keep doing the same thing over and over again. But we want to actually create something new based on our uniqueness.
The first step to getting unstuck.
Years ago when I was working as an illustrator, I got hired for what I thought was the best gig I'd ever had. It was the gig I'd been working towards for most of my career.
But during the job, I felt nothing but frustration, angst, stress, and annoyance. Afterward, when I actually saw the product I had worked so hard on, I felt defeated. I was supposed to feel proud and excited about this work but all I felt was annoyed and completely burnt out.
The very simple equation to feeling good.
Have you ever noticed that when you are doing things you love, working towards a goal that is meaningful, or contributing to the greater good it just FEELS AMAZING? And when you are neglecting yourself, your dreams, or working towards something that is not meaningful to you, you feel bad? You may even get depressed, angry, or blame yourself.
Our biology has evolved to SHOW US HOW TO FEEL GOOD.
The FLOW research also backs this up.
Why we abandon ourselves
From a very very young age, I felt like everyone around me wanted me to be what THEY wanted. Which left very little room for me to discover WHO I ACTUALLY WAS and EXPRESS THAT. I was a natural people pleaser so I took on all of these other identities and buried my ESSENCE somewhere deep inside of me.
Then for most of my life, I would do things to ABANDON MYSELF. Like going to a party when I wanted to stay home or doing things for others when I really needed to take care of myself.
How our SHADOW can keep us from sharing our gifts and creativity
How our SHADOW can keep us from sharing our gifts and creativity…
You may have heard about shadow work but what is it really and how does it affect our creativity and art business?
Let me share this example that I uncovered in my own life recently.
Feeling Overwhelmed? Two simple questions to ask yourself this January
Having gone through major shifts with my health and business in 2021...I decided I needed a major overhaul at the beginning of this year. I was feeling overwhelmed by thinking about creating goals or intentions because I couldn't get clear on what I needed at a deeper level. My mind kept going around and around keeping me in what I felt like I "should" do.