Intention Inspired

Today, let's feel our life force with our whole being and make a sacred commitment to our creative journey.

Explore today's full session at https://intentioninspired.com/creative-autumn1

When we began our journey through the Seasons of Creativity we may not have realized the new rituals we were going to create.  One such ritual is our commitment to our creative practice.  For each season that is where we begin.

We acknowledge that creativity is not specific to "the Arts" or the Act of physically making or producing things. It is the key to unlocking our self-awareness and our potential. Creativity is an energy that is at the root of all things.  It is life force energy that invites us to expand.  Nothing happens without the energy of creativity.

Creativity brings us to life! 

📣 TODAY'S AFFIRMATION:

"My Commitment to Creative Practice is Sacred"

Making the time to express ourselves creatively is a sacred undertaking.  You may not be called to your creative journal, daily, as your primary source of creative expression.  As we journey together with focused attention and intention, we are able to define and expand our knowledge and understanding of our own "life force energy" and how creativity shapes our entire being.   

The commitment we make to our creative practice is not a commitment to "Art", it is not a commitment to "finishing" every task in a day,  it is not a commitment to finishing a journal page every day.  The commitment we make is to intentionally observe our daily lives in a creative rather than conditioned manner.  We celebrate those observations here.

Our creative journal allows us to experiment, examine and heal the areas of our being that have been stuck or have lived in darkness for a long time.  It is one of the best ways that I have found to practice creativity in community.  

As we consciously link our awareness to the cycles of Nature, our understanding of our own cycles begin to deepen. 

Keeping a creative journal, honoring the commitments we make to ourselves, making our journal our own...these are the actions that clarify and define our unique creative practice.  As we expand our life force energy and we begin to live a creative life, we begin to acknowledge how our creativity extends to all areas of our being.

Choose an amount of time for your Creative Practice that fits your lifestyle but also one that reflects the importance that your practice holds.  You can always stay longer.  If you continually "fall short" of your commitment you may be sending a powerful message to yourself that your self awareness and creativity are not that important.  That is neither right or wrong but it is an important observation.

Also available in the Art Room is a commitment agreement you can print out, fill out, perhaps decorate, and sign.

Find that here » https://intentioninspired.com/art-friend

😄A MOMENT OF GRATITUDE:

Autumn is the Season of Gratitude.  

It becomes clear, as we acknowledge our growth, that all around you are the gifts of your creation.

You may want to honor all that you have in your life and shift your consciousness from one of lack to one of prosperity and gratitude in some way through a small ritual or ceremony. 

I am grateful for 

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💬 JOIN THE COMMUNITY CONVERSATION

As we move into the Harvest of the Autumn Season we will be focusing on and defining all that we are (which is just right in this moment), all that we "need" and the infinite possibilities that lay ahead of us.  

We are all creative beings and whatever amount of time you have committed to can be accomplished in infinite creative ways.  Look for the CREATIVE in your life.

Please share what you hope to learn as we Journey into Autumn and Harvest our bounty in the comments below or the Art Room Activity Feed

https://intentioninspired.com/art-room

Join the Intention Inspired fam this November for

30 Days of Autumn Creative Journaling Journey.

👉 https://intentioninspired.com/art-friend

✨🍂 Welcome to the Bounty of Autumn! 🍂✨

The Autumnal Equinox began on Wednesday, September 22 in 2021. Day and night come into balance and once again we, in turn, balance our energies of darkness and light. We look upon the Abundance of our intentions and we prepare for Harvest and Winter.

Our Creative practice and process becomes all the more exciting with what we have been learning. Autumn gives us an opportunity to be discerning and curious about our Creative Life.

We have basked in the warm, energy of Summer, sown and tended our seeds and with the coming of Autumn we acknowledge, with awe and gratitude, the cycle of all things. The season of ritual, we will use this season to examine our growth and refine the process of our Creativity.

Autumn invites us to experience the fruits of our labor by enjoying them when they are ripe and ready, preserving and storing them for later use or disposal into the compost to be transformed and open up space. In this season of harvest we will clearly define, understand and connect to the Creative in all things.

Thank you for joining us as bring ourselves to life with the power of Creativity!

This is a different kind of active journaling and a journey into the power of Creativity. This is not an "art" course (although we will play with art...color, prose, design, collage, etc.) and you do not have to believe that you are "creative" to participate.

🍂 THE DAILY FLOW

The daily process of the creative journal is really fun and uniquely meaningful to each of us. It need not take more than 15 minutes a day and the return on self-investment is immeasurably rewarding.

👩🏼‍🎨

Creativity Is a State of Being

Creating is an innate human attribute, available to everyone. We will explore this. You will find so much benefit to daily creative expression and so many areas that creativity can enhance your life. Each person that accepts this challenge and commitment changes the world for the better.

🍂

Aside from honoring Autumn, this journey was designed to:

• Examine and reframe our beliefs about our own Creative expression and expand our understanding of how vital Creativity is to our personal growth and our lives.

• Allow us to create and observe ourselves while creating in a space that is non-judgmental, supportive and authentic. You will find that sharing this journey with other co-creators really enhances the journey. We can learn so much and more quickly through the loving support and wisdom of others and sharing ourselves as we learn.

• Remind us of the importance of keeping commitments we make to and for ourselves. If, like me, this was not something you were taught to do, you will find out how powerful this practice of commitment is. This practice allows us to become mindful and self aware and to honor ourselves as we learn.

• Observe ourselves in a fun and active creative format. That is why I chose creative journaling. It is fun and I can learn while I play. My inner child loves it!

• That gives you some idea of what this journey is about. There are many layers to this onion and no matter where you are on your creative journey there is much for all of us to learn about knowing ourselves, loving ourselves and how creativity affects our lives.

🙌 The Autumn Creative Journey is now live!

Check it out at https://intentioninspired.com/art-friend

Our final addition to the Self Awareness “tool kit” is creativity!

💖 Join the 3 Days of Self Awareness Journey at https://intentioninspired.com/join-self-awareness

We saved creativity until the end of our three self-awareness tools because it is where we get to use our understanding of judgment and our powers of observation. It is also our favorite way of becoming self-aware at Intention Inspired and expanding our connection to self.

📓 JOURNAL PROMPT:

Most of us have at least a small amount of trauma around the idea of “being creative”.

We hear the word and think the ARTS, unusually gifted, not a valid use of our time and energy, something we are not talented enough to achieve. We may have come to the conclusion that we are not creative on our own or received “well-meant” advice from another. It is equally possible that we were, straight up, discouraged from any creative pursuit. If any of that resonates with you, you are not alone. We may have been conditioned to believe that we are not “Creative” and now have a very narrow view of how important our ability to CREATE actually is. We must redefine these old beliefs if we are to become Self Aware.

Take a moment to journal about what “creativity” means to you.

💪 MICRO CHALLENGE:

So how do we redefine old beliefs in order to grow in self-awareness?

1. We reframe judgment and understand that there is nothing “wrong” with us because we “judge”. We learn to stop judging ourselves. We will consider that a judgment may be the way we understand and feel comfortable in the world around us. You will know if you feel that your judgments cause you more stress or a discordant emotional state. Because you understand how to observe yourself you can modify your reactionary behavior in the moment.

2. We approach the unknown with curiosity and courage. Any anxiety we prefer to call excitement (all a matter of perception). We keep a journal of our dreams, our values, gratitude and what causes us to react.

3. We spend as much time as possible focused in this moment and in a feeling place of joy and gratitude.

4. When our body tells us that a stress response is eminent we pause and focus on our breathing. We ask questions, of ourselves or others, to gain clarity without judgment of right or wrong.

5. We spend time in nature, meditate, and have a releasing ritual for beliefs or behaviors that do not serve us.

6. WE PLAY and EXPERIMENT and keep in close contact with our creative inner child. The world around us fascinates us so much that we have almost no time to be anything other than blissful.

7. We commit to a daily practice of creative expression-if you would like to know more about this there are some good articles in the Art Room that not only explain creativity but also gives you ideas for creative expression.

What all 7 practices above have in common is that they are all creative solutions.

This is how we create our reality. By using our Creativity we can become more self-aware. By observing ourselves in varied creative practices, using our imaginations and curiosity to problem solve, keep moving forward focused on the journey and this moment, we can know and love who we truly are at our core and have FUN while doing it.

Which of these practices are you willing to commit to become more self-aware?

💭 Share your insights and takeaways with the Intention Inspired fam at https://intentioninspired.com/join-self-awareness

Today, let's learn our stress signature and practice becoming the empowered "Watcher" of our emotional triggers.

Join the 3 Days of Self Awareness community journey at https://intentioninspired.com/join-self-awareness

One of the greatest practices for enhancing self-awareness is OBSERVATION.

We may think that we have no choice but to observe the way we act, the things we say, the things we do, the things we are “triggered” by. That is observation on a surface level and we generally chalk that up to “The Way I Am…”. Most of the time we are on autopilot running the same old programs and conditioning that we have run for years and these states of being seem like “who we are”.

To evolve as consciousness and become more self-aware we need to become very observant as we travel on this journey. We need to become “The Watcher” as Eckhart Tolle says.

"Be the silent watcher of your thoughts and behavior. You are beneath the thinker. You are the stillness beneath the mental noise. You are the love and joy beneath the pain." – Eckhart Tolle

Psychological “triggers” can be tricky, they can be deep and hidden in our subconscious.

We have accepted them as ourselves, when actually they were conditioning that we adopted (usually in childhood) as a protection and coping tool. As adults, they are soundtracks and patterns of behavior that in most cases no longer serve us and in many cases are causing us higher stress. A “trigger” can manifest by any sense reaction. A smell, a taste, a word or phrase or perception. Many small and seemingly insignificant or unrelated manifestations that cause us to react in a patterned way. But is there any way to alter these triggers?

1) Learn your “stress signature”.

According to what science currently knows when we experience a trigger, our hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis) kicks off a complex process of self-protection that readies us for three possible actions: fight, flight or freeze. Our adrenaline spikes, and stress hormones like cortisol course throughout our bodies and brain. Once these stress hormones are released, anxiety soars, and we often lose touch with our healthy coping skills and succumb to reactions like lashing out or running away.

Learning to recognize that you are being triggered as soon as the signs start in your body is the first step. Each one of us has a unique “stress signature”. One of three things usually throws us into the fight, flight or freeze response: increased heart rate, sweating or muscle tension. Pay close attention the next time you feel triggered, and see which of these is most prominent for you.

2) Pause, calm your body and focus on your breath and what you are feeling.

Document your findings. All of this information can lead us to greater self awareness.

3) Practice tuning into your body and what it is trying to tell you several times a day-triggered or not.

As stress levels arise our tendency is to tune into what is happening outside ourselves. We have become so conditioned to that feeling place that we have become disconnected from the wisdom our body holds. There are several great meditations that focus on our connection to our body. Try one. Document your findings.

What about you? What inspired you during today's intention on observation?

Join the community journey and conversation at https://intentioninspired.com/join-self-awareness

Join the 3 Days of Self Awareness community journey at https://intentioninspired.com/join-self-awareness

It is our nature to judge our circumstances and what is occurring around us.

Years ago it was a matter of survival. Quick judgments have to be made if the circumstances are a matter of life or death. Our survival is generally not the cause of our stress in this day and age (obviously there are circumstances where survival is still a concern but we tend to view those circumstances from the moment and take appropriate action to be “safe”) but we are more stressed-out than ever before. Our physical, mental and emotional states of being and those of the people around us, now, have “new” areas of stressful focus and they seem to be more invasive and dangerous than being chased by a tiger.

Certainly with the combination of “actual” physical danger and emotionally and mentally perceived threats to our well-being, our capacity to JUDGE is on high alert. For a lot of people, the innate human function of judgment is no longer a “quickly judge my surroundings for my physical safety” instinctual response but a fear-based, daily validation of reasons to be afraid. That high alert, fear-based judgment is causing much dis-ease in our world. Is it human nature or is it our conditioning that makes us feel so unsafe that we have to judge harshly on every level of our being (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual)?

TODAY'S QUOTE:

"If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher." – Pema Chodron

TODAY'S JOURNAL PROMPT:

Write out, in detail, 10 (or more) things that cause you stress.

Take a good look at your list. How many of these things are within your power to change? How many of these stressful things are happening in this moment?

No matter how many things are on your list, chances are most of them are related to the past or the future. Many of them are things you have no power to change and a lot of them are not about you at all (someone else stuff). If you draw a line through the stressors that come from the past, future or someone else what is left on your list?

TODAY'S MICRO CHALLENGE:

Today, let's reframe our perception of “judgment”.

Making a judgment may be our way of gathering information. Judgmental is what you are when you are judging. That may sound like semantics but do we really need another “flaw' to “justify” our unworthiness? Couldn't it be that the act of judging is just humans trying to make sense out of what we are feeling or an experience we are having without the self-awareness to know that these judgments are subconscious coping mechanisms? Maybe judging is the clue we need to point the way to old habits, old beliefs, or old conditioning. Consider this concept with an open mind.

Left at that, judgment is just a thought and holds no validity or impact except to ourselves when used as an observation. Judgments that cause emotional reactions are also clues to help you find personal insight. It is the reaction on any level of being that creates the discord and our reactions are in our power to change. Reactions that cause discord due to the judgments we make always have to do with our own perceptions, our own self-judgments, and feelings of inadequacy or strength.

We must stop looking at ourselves as a broken piece of equipment that needs repair and if, after observation, we determine that we are judging things so often, harshly and reactively (and on so many levels of our being) that it is causing our well being or our relationships to suffer, then we can make a commitment with an intention to change. Until then it would help to understand that all feelings have validity, that we are not broken, just learning, and that we are magnificent and worthy just as we are.

What about you?

What inspired you during today's intention on reframing judgment?

Join the community journey at https://intentioninspired.com/join-self-awareness

Today, let's turn jealousy into liberating creative action.

🎥 Watch today's video » https://youtu.be/s2kHdkPs-rk

👉 Join the FREE online Artist's Way community journey » https://intentioninspired.com/artist

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TODAY'S INSPIRATION FROM JULIA CAMERON

Jealousy is always a mask for fear: fear that we aren’t able to get what we want; frustration that somebody else seems to be getting what is rightfully ours even if we are too frightened to reach for it. At its root, jealousy is a stingy emotion. It doesn’t allow for the abundance and multiplicity of the universe. Jealousy tells us there is room for only one—one poet, one painter, one whatever you dream of being.

The truth, revealed by action in the direction of our dreams, is that there is room for all of us. But jealousy produces tunnel vision. It narrows our ability to see things in perspective. It strips us of our ability to see other options. The biggest lie that jealousy tells us is that we have no choice but to be jealous.

Perversely, jealousy strips us of our will to act when action holds the key to our freedom.

(The Artist's Way, 2016, p. 123 - 124)

📕 GET THE BOOK » http://mattprindle.com/the-artist-way-book

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📣 TODAY'S AFFIRMATION

Read today's affirmation out loud with vigor and delight:

I move past my jealous concerns by taking faithful action.

__________

💪 TODAY'S CREATIVE EXERCISE

THE JEALOUSY MAP

Your jealousy map will have three columns. In the first column, name those whom you are jealous of. Next to each name write why. Be as specific and accurate as you can. In the third column, list one action you can take to move toward creative risk and out of jealousy.

When jealousy bites, like a snakebite it requires an immediate antidote. On paper, make your jealousy map.

WHO WHY ACTION ANTIDOTE

________ ___________ __________________

________ ___________ __________________

________ ___________ __________________

Even the biggest changes begin with small ones. Green is the color of jealousy, but it is also the color of hope. When you learn to harness its fierce energy on your own behalf, jealousy is part of the fuel toward a greener and more verdant future.

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💬 TODAY'S QUOTE

"With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity."

– Keshavan Nair

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📓 TODAY'S JOURNAL PROMPT

How will you harness the fierce energy of jealousy today?

Share in the comments below👇

Today, let's befriend jealousy as fuel for inspired creative action.

🎥 Watch today's video » https://youtu.be/3OXsvEOf6uI

👉 Join the FREE online Artist's Way community journey » https://intentioninspired.com/artist

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TODAY'S INSPIRATION FROM JULIA CAMERON

Jealousy, I’ve often heard, is a normal human emotion. When I hear that, I think, “Maybe your jealousy—not mine.”

My jealously roars in the head, tightens the chest, massages my stomach lining with a cold fist as it searches out the best grip. I have long regarded jealousy as my greatest weakness. Only recently have I seen it for the tough-love friend that it is.

Jealousy is a map.

Each of our jealousy maps differs. Each of us will probably be surprised by some of the things we discover on our own. I, for example, have never been eaten alive with resentment over the success of women novelists. But I took an unhealthy interest in the fortunes and misfortunes of women playwrights. I was their harshest critic, until I wrote my first play.

With that action, my jealousy vanished, replaced by a feeling of camaraderie. My jealousy had actually been a mask for my fear of doing something I really wanted to do but was not yet brave enough to take action toward.

(The Artist's Way, 2016, p. 123)

📕 GET THE BOOK » http://mattprindle.com/the-artist-way-book

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📣 TODAY'S AFFIRMATION

I let jealous show me what I value and where I can take inspired action.

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💪 TODAY'S CREATIVE EXERCISE

Make this phrase a mantra:

Treating myself like a precious object will make me strong.

Watercolor or crayon or calligraph this phrase. Post it where you will see it daily. We tend to think being hard on ourselves will make us strong. But it is cherishing ourselves that gives us strength.

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💬 TODAY'S QUOTE

"Jealousy is bred in doubts. When those doubts change into certainties, then the passion either ceases or turns absolute madness."

– François de La Rochefoucauld

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📓 TODAY'S JOURNAL PROMPT

What is one way jealousy has shown you what you value?

Share in the comments below👇

Marva here, welcome to my "Art Room" and our New Creative Summer Journal Journey. 👉 Join us for free at https://intentioninspired.com/art-friend

This is a different kind of active journaling and a journey into the power of Creativity. This is not an "art" course (although we will play with art...color, prose, design, collage, etc.) and you do not have to believe that you are "creative" to participate.

🦄

THE DAILY FLOW

• intention

• affirmation

• summer inspirations

• gratitude

• creative journaling

• community reflections

The daily process of the creative journal is really fun and uniquely meaningful to each of us. It need not take more than 15 minutes a day and the return on self-investment is immeasurably rewarding.

👩🏼‍🎨

CREATIVITY IS A STATE OF BEING

Creating is an innate human attribute, available to everyone. We will explore this. You will find so much benefit to daily creative expression and so many areas that creativity can enhance your life. Each person that accepts this challenge and commitment changes the world for the better.

🌻

Aside from honoring Summer, this journey was designed to:

• Examine and reframe our beliefs about our own Creative expression and expand our understanding of how vital Creativity is to our personal growth and our lives.

• Allow us to create and observe ourselves while creating in a space that is non-judgmental, supportive and authentic. You will find that sharing this journey with other co-creators really enhances the journey. We can learn so much and more quickly through the loving support and wisdom of others and sharing ourselves as we learn.

• Remind us of the importance of keeping commitments we make to and for ourselves. If, like me, this was not something you were taught to do, you will find out how powerful this practice of commitment is. This practice allows us to become mindful and self aware and to honor ourselves as we learn.

• Observe ourselves in a fun and active creative format. That is why I chose creative journaling. It is fun and I can learn while I play. My inner child loves it!

That gives you some idea of what this journey is about. There are many layers to this onion and no matter where you are on your creative journey there is much for all of us to learn about knowing ourselves, loving ourselves and how creativity affects our lives.

🧭

A couple of rules within the Art Room

...there are no rules in the art room. This is YOUR journey and your safe space to create. How you do that is up to you.

I have a couple of rules that apply to the Creators that are in the Art Room.

This is a space of trust.

In the interest of everyone being able to share their creations, their triggers, their truth, and their challenges we must all feel comfortable and safe enough to speak or share. This journey isn't always "rainbows and unicorns". It takes courage to create, it takes courage to step into the unknown, it takes courage to change.

Sometimes the journey is raw and intense.

Everyone's truth may not sound like yours but everyone deserves to be seen and heard without fear of retribution. In the Art Room that space and that right is held and sacred.

It's an honor to journey with you.

👉 Join us for free at https://intentioninspired.com/art-friend

Today, let's expand our self-definition by releasing conditioning limits.

🎥 Watch today's video » https://youtu.be/Gis_uP60kwo

👉 Join the FREE online Artist's Way community journey » https://intentioninspired.com/artist

___________

TODAY'S INSPIRATION FROM JULIA CAMERON

QUESTION: What would I do if I didn’t have to do it perfectly?

ANSWER: A great deal more than I am.

We’ve all heard that the unexamined life is not worth living, but consider too that the unlived life is not worth examining. The success of a creative recovery hinges on our ability to move out of the head and into action. This brings us squarely to risk. Most of us are practiced at talking ourselves out of risk. We are skilled speculators on the probable pain of self-exposure.

We deny that in order to do something well we must first be willing to do it badly. Instead, we opt for setting our limits at the point where we feel assured of success. Living within these bounds, we may feel stifled, smothered, despairing, bored. But, yes, we do feel safe. And safety is a very expensive illusion.

In order to risk, we must jettison our accepted limits.

Usually, when we say we can’t do something, what we mean is that we won’t do something unless we can guarantee that we’ll do it perfectly.

As blocked artists, we unrealistically expect and demand success from ourselves and recognition of that success from others. With that as an unspoken demand, a great many things remain outside our sphere of possibility.

Once we are willing to accept that anything worth doing might even be worth doing badly our options widen. “If I didn’t have to do it perfectly, I would try ...”

Very often a risk is worth taking simply for the sake of taking it.

There is something enlivening about expanding our self-definition, and a risk does exactly that. Selecting a challenge and meeting it creates a sense of self-empowerment that becomes the ground for further successful challenges. Viewed this way, running a marathon increases your chances of writing a full-length play. Writing a full-length play gives you a leg up on a marathon.

Complete the following sentence. “If I didn’t have to do it perfectly, I would try ...”

(The Artist's Way, 2016, p. 121 - 123)

📕 GET THE BOOK » http://mattprindle.com/the-artist-way-book

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📣 TODAY'S AFFIRMATION

Read the following affirmation with gusto and intent:

I am willing to risk my illusion of safety in order to expand my self-definition.

__________

💪 TODAY'S CREATIVE EXERCISE

The phrases that follow are more of your sleuth work. Very often, we have buried parts of ourselves that can be uncovered by some digging. Not only will your answers tell you what you missed in the past; they will tell you what you can be doing, now, to comfort and encourage your artist child. It is not too late, no matter what your ego tells you.

Complete these phrases.

As a kid, I missed the chance to ____________________

As a kid, I lacked _________________________________

As a kid, I could have used ________________________

As a kid, I dreamed of being ______________________

As a kid, I wanted a ______________________________

In my house, we never had enough ________________

As a kid, I needed more __________________________

I am sorry that I will never again see _______________

For years, I have missed and wondered about ______

I beat myself up about the loss of _________________

__________

💬 TODAY'S QUOTE

"Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark."

– Agnes de Mille

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📓 TODAY'S JOURNAL PROMPT

What is one small risk you will take today towards a dream?

Share in the comments below👇

Today, let's notice how our perfectionistic tendencies are stifling productive action.

🎥 Watch today's video » https://youtu.be/rrvJcF8xTJU

👉 Join the FREE online Artist's Way community journey » https://intentioninspired.com/artist

___________

TODAY'S INSPIRATION FROM JULIA CAMERON

Tillie Olsen correctly calls it the “knife of the perfectionist attitude in art.”

You may call it something else. Getting it right, you may call it, or fixing it before I go any further. You may call it having standards. What you should be calling it is perfectionism.

Perfectionism has nothing to do with getting it right.

It has nothing to do with fixing things. It has nothing to do with standards. Perfectionism is a refusal to let yourself move ahead. It is a loop—an obsessive, debilitating closed system that causes you to get stuck in the details of what you are writing or painting or making and to lose sight of the whole. Instead of creating freely and allowing errors to reveal themselves later as insights, we often get mired in getting the details right. We correct our originality into a uniformity that lacks passion and spontaneity. “Do not fear mistakes,” Miles Davis told us. “There are none.”

Instead of enjoying the process, the perfectionist is constantly grading the results.

The perfectionist has married the logic side of the brain. The critic reigns supreme in the perfectionist’s creative household. A brilliant descriptive prose passage is critiqued with a white-glove approach: “Mmm. What about this comma? Is this how you spell ... ?”

To the perfectionist, there is always room for improvement. The perfectionist calls this humility. In reality, it is egotism. It is pride that makes us want to write a perfect script, paint a perfect painting, perform a perfect audition monologue.

Perfectionism is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves, the part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough— that we should try again.

No. We should not.

That is a normal part of creativity—letting go. We always do the best that we can by the light we have to see by.

(The Artist's Way, 2016, p. 119-120)

📕 GET THE BOOK » http://mattprindle.com/the-artist-way-book

__________

📣 TODAY'S AFFIRMATION

Read the following affirmation out loud with purpose and intent:

I let go of needing perfection and enjoy the process of my creative endeavors.

__________

💪 TODAY'S CREATIVE EXERCISE

Collect a stack of at least ten magazines, which you will allow yourself to freely dismember. Setting a twenty-minute time limit for yourself, tear (literally) through the magazines, collecting any images that reflect your life or interests. Think of this collage as a form of pictorial autobiography. Include your past, present, future, and your dreams. It is okay to include images you simply like. Keep pulling until you have a good stack of images (at least twenty). Now take a sheet of newspaper, a stapler, or some tape or glue, and arrange your images in a way that pleases you. (This is one of my students’ favorite exercises.)

__________

💬 TODAY'S QUOTE

"Cerebration is the enemy of originality in art."

– Martin Ritt

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📓 TODAY'S JOURNAL PROMPT

What is the next best step you can take on an unfinished project?

Share in the comments below👇