The Journey
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Several weeks ago I guided a group of muses to connect with their creative side at my Toronto Workshop Painting With your Muse. Many had come seeking their creative side though I’m told they left with a lot more. You see when we connect with our creativity we open up doors that have sometimes been closed shut for a very long time. Often creating something new or in a new way shakes things up and we discover other parts of ourselves that we have forgotten or perhaps have not even recognized in ourselves before. By the end, confidence soars, shyness dissipates and risk taking has a safe outlet as experiments in the art are allowed. You see the process of art making becomes a kind of permission given to the self.
It is not without a struggle at first. To start, there is often much resistance, participants who would like to control the outcome, who have preconceived expectations of themselves and what they create set up barriers to true free expression. But with some encouragement and friendly reminders they begin to take some chances and open themselves too a new experience. It is then that the shifts happen. When they begin to let flow take over instead of trying to be in control. it is then that they feel the difference. When they can let go of expectations, of adopted messages that do not serve them, and lies they have taken as truths, then, and only then a new journey begins.
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I see the same happening in my e-courses: as soon as those patterns of expectations are dropped participants begin to move about with more ease in their art and in their life. It is as if a weight has been removed from their shoulders allowing them more flexibility and mobility in other aspects of their life.
That is the power or the creative process.
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Creative expression has the ability to shift things in our life that we had not imagined possible. It is in the process of doing that we begin to experience ourselves differently. We begin to realize how we interact with the world and how these can change our perspective and ultimately our approach to life.
But don’t take my word for it. Try it out. The next time you go to create something let go of any expectations on your self and your art. Allow what wants to be created to unfold naturally with the watching eyes of a curious child. And you’ll see . . . . . . . .
