Am I an artist?
I am an artist, I think.
I AM an artist!
Those four little words are loaded. I personally struggled for years to be able to confidently claim that yes, I am an artist. I know I am not alone in this struggle as I have heard from hundreds of women similar stories of dismissing their own artistry and creative genius.
There is a chasm that exists between Art with a capital A and the extraordinary creative work that most of us do every single day. It took me close to a decade to find the bridge across that chasm in my own heart and to finally listen to what my heart had been telling me for most of my life: you are an artist.
One of the first steps on the path to following my heart’s calling was to redefine and claim what art means to me. I love the word “artistry” which means creative skill or ability. While it includes painters and performers, it includes scientists and chefs, teachers and leaders too.
Once I was able to see my own artistry, I was also able to hear loudly the shouts of my heart’s desire asking me to put art at the center of my life and business. For years it got buried, relegated to fits and spurts or saved for weekends. Now I make art every day and it has changed my life and my business.
Consider for a moment what areas of your life and work you already bring your innate artistry to: cooking, decorating, entertaining, leading, designing, programming, parenting… the list is endless.
Cutting off the “artistic” aspect of yourself is doing a disservice to your spirit and it’s a disservice to the world. The world needs your creativity now more than ever! Making things that are both useful and beautiful is innate to human nature – it’s what has set us apart from other species on the planet since the dawn of humanity.
As humans, one of our most unique abilities is to bring artistry to everything we build, design and create. I often think about early Native American potters whose work was needed and valued in the community for storage and carrying water and food. The pots are exquisitely beautiful, they didn’t need to be and still the potter added her stamp of individuality to each creation.
For the past 10 years I have been on a personal quest to claim my artistry. I’ve explored a variety of mediums and styles. I’ve studied, taken classes and spent hours in my studio painting and playing. I’ve also found innovative ways to incorporate creative play into every aspect of my work as a creative life and business coach.
Along the way I discovered five keys to following your heart’s desire. These keys will help you whether you want to bring more creativity into your own life or are still seeking what your heart’s calling is.
Often, we are afraid to listen to the whispers of our heart’s deepest longings, fearing it will turn our lives upside down or take us in directions we aren’t quite ready to take. This was my story, I was afraid to listen, afraid to change directions and start over in my business, again. The truth is, when I shifted my mindset about the role of art in my life and work, everything got better, my business grew and so did my fulfillment.
My path wasn’t about making art to sell but making art to make me happy, to keep me connected to my own heart and to the Divine. My creative practice opened up new opportunities for collaborations and connection with other artists.
In fact, I was talking with my college-aged daughter recently who is trying to figure out her career and life path. She said, “I see how fulfilled you are in your work and how inspired you are. I want that!”
These 5 keys will bring you into alignment so that you can begin to trust the whispers and know that you are strong enough to make the changes required to follow your heart’s truest and deepest calling.
You can see in the image of the mind map the many different directions these 5 simple keys can take us in our thoughts, our feelings and ultimately our actions.
Below you will find brief descriptions of each key to support you on your journey to listening to the whispers and leaning into the longing in your heart.
Key #1: Curiosity
The power of curiosity is that it creates distance and objectivity and silences the inner critic. It also reminds us to engage our childlike sense of awe and wonder by asking open-ended questions that invite inquiry and reflection. One of my favorite curious questions is “What if…?” These two words drop us instantly into the realm of possibility so we can stop focusing on how our past failures and limiting beliefs define our current reality.
Key #2: Connection
If curiosity opens us up to possibility, then connection invites us to sit in communion with our own inner voice first. Then connect to the voice of the Divine. It’s essential that you don’t allow the voices of others to drown out the whispers of your heart. When it comes to connection and your heart’s desire, be careful to share your dreams and longing with those who will nurture and support you. Now is the time to trust your own guidance and trust your connection to God/Spirit. Your heart’s desire may feel precious and tender, share it wisely.
Key #3: Compassion
“If love and compassion are in our hearts, every thought, word, and deed can bring about a miracle,” says Thich Nhat Hahn. When it comes to following your heart’s desire, fear can often feel like a fire breathing dragon who stands between you and your dreams and desires. Now is the moment to hold yourself tenderly. Practicing loving-kindness towards your own creative expressions is essential to your success. You have ideas and dreams in abundance. Are you treating them with reverence or pushing them aside? Listening to yourself is a key component of compassion. The more you do this, the more compassion you have for yourself, your dreams and the dreams of others.
Key #4: Congruence
This key asks that you find harmony and alignment between your thoughts, feelings and your intuition. I invite you to check in with your head (thoughts), heart (feelings) and gut (intuition) as a way to discover where you are out of congruence. Congruence means that you can bring your whole self to the party. You stop doubting or wondering if you can follow your heart’s desire and you embrace the vision with your entire being. Bringing your being into inner congruence allows you to release judgment and access clarity.
Once we feel that deep inner knowing that we are on the right path we have even more experience of what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi coined as flow. You unintentionally stop creative flow when you are out of alignment. When you are in total congruence, it feels like the universe has your back, life just flows, and everything is working perfectly.
Key #5: Courage.
“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” Joseph Chilton Pearce
Now is the time to be the dragon, to soar into the unexplored territory of your heart’s desire and release any fear of looking silly, stupid or failing.
This might be the trickiest key for sensitive creatives who dread being vulnerable or struggle to ask for what you want and need. Often the mantra of the woman who is listening to the whispers of her heart for the first or even the millionth time is, “I couldn’t possibly do that…” followed by a litany of reasons why following her heart’s desire is a bad idea.
How then can you lean into courage and start to build that muscle? I don’t believe that being courageous means leaping headfirst off the cliff, I believe courage happens in the smallest of actions in the direction of your dreams. Think in baby steps not trampoline leaps. Instead of saying “I can’t” try asking yourself, “How could I” or “What is one small thing I am going to try today?”
Learning to ask yourself these types of questions will help you begin to activate all 5 of these keys so that they are working in harmony. It’s easy to stay in curiosity or even spend hours sitting in quiet contemplation and connection, but the magic happens when you take action to move confidently in the direction of your heart’s desire.
Make time today to sit and listen to what your heart is telling you. You are courageous enough to follow your heart’s desire.
