Reconnecting with Your True Self to Unleash Your Artistic Potential

A Journey Through Art is a Journey Back to Yourself

There are those who say that we are born with a perfect connection with our true selves. Some of us experience this connection as a still small voice inside of us that gently guides us down a path to what we desire. Others experience it as a gut feeling or instinct.

Often, however, as time goes on, we are trained away from this connection and it is replaced by a dependence on the opinions and approval of others. Acceptance from our true self is unconditional. Quite often acceptance from others is dependent on us doing things that please or benefit others.

Many people that I know who start to learn art late in life, do so after being strongly discouraged at an early age. This discouragement, often offered by someone trusted like a parent or a teacher, was repeated often enough until it finally became accepted as a belief. Whenever there was renewed desire to pursue art, this limiting belief reared its ugly head and the pursuit delayed. Even as they begin to pursue their desire, progress is often accomplished only by dragging the baggage of this old belief.

Most often this initial criticism has nothing to do with you and it is more about the stress level or mood of the person that offered it. And even if it was offered sincerely, many of the greatest artists received the most criticism. When you reestablish your connection with your true self, it gives you an armor, a confidence that can withstand the harshest criticism.

So what do we do if we find ourselves affected by this type of history?

Here are some tips:

• Our past affects our future by creating patterns of thought. These thoughts create our reality. Most of us aren’t aware of this so our thoughts repeat over and over again and our resulting experience is that change or improvement is difficult
• Until we learn to properly use the power of our mind, it is best to spend less time thinking. Practice meditation or listening prayer to slow down the momentum of your thoughts and reestablish connection to your true self
• Our emotions are a tool to evaluate the quality our thoughts. We should be aware of how we are feeling and work to choose thoughts that make us feel better
• Paint with a quiet mind. If the mind is too active, give it something pleasurable to focus on like music or even the sounds of nature
• Thoughts are habitual and are subject to the law of momentum. We must persistent in choosing new, better feeling thoughts like: I am an artist, I am a skilled painter, I am creative, I am prolific. Our minds may offer arguments to these thoughts initially. Avoid fighting or arguing. Just acknowledge the old thoughts, release them and calmly redirect our minds to the new, better feeling thoughts.

These principles are powerful and can be used to create any experience we desire. Once we learn the basic discipline of choosing our thoughts guided by our emotions, we have everything we need to make our lives a masterpiece!