I have decided to book myself on an art journaling workshop. This has been no easy thing. It is a scary thing for me to do and I am pushing a few inner boundaries by doing so. By doing this I am challenging myself to see me as creative and artistic. I am challenging my perfectionist tendancies (in art, sometimes there is no 'right'!). I am also going to give in to any mess that may be encountered. And more than that, I am going to have fun.
Limiting beliefs can be quite crippling. They can be paralysing. They can be life-defining. And when coupled with perfectionism and control, you can get a pretty potent mix that is negative and stifling. That has been my past to date.
I have always liked the idea of 'art' and being creative however, when you enter into an activity thinking it has to be 'right' and that mess is quite, well, messy, you can understand why creativity and I never really got on. Also, creativity for me has had an association of inhibition: of letting go. And in enters another thing: control. Control means order and predictability. It is safe. It is secure. Creativity can be none of those things.
I find some of my most satisfying work comes when clients realise just how much they have been stifling parts of themselves because they have held a certain untruth deep in their core. Or they are living through certain safety mechanisms such as control.
By attending this workshop, I am going to give myself that release I see so often with my clients. I have always been conscious of 'walking the talk' within my practice, never asking my clients to do something that I haven't done myself. While I have come far on my own personal development journey, I know there is always room for challenge and this was an opportunity I felt suited perfectly as it taps into so much of my 'stuff' and all at once!
The way the workshop is designed and described gives me faith that I will be gently supported in my challenge- I will not be shouted at for doing something 'wrong'. I like that it includes the journaling aspect too as I feel comfortable with words and am very happy playing with them in writing or poetry (some may call that creativity, gasp!) so I will not be totally out of my comfort zone. Also, I am such a huge proponent of journaling within my coaching practice, for reflection and clarity, that to create a journal cover unique to me as much as the thoughts that will be entered in it, seems a double gift to myself!
Limiting beliefs can be about our capabilities, our looks, our worth- anything. And when it becomes part of who we think we are, we then determine our life by it and therefore, limit our life by it. When I come across a limiting belief in a client, I try for them to see the untruth behind the statement and then get them to understand the proof gathered to support this statement could just have easily been gathered for the opposite. To make ourselves feel secure in our world, we look for evidence that matches our values and beliefs. It allows us to feel as though we have a place and that we 'know' the world we live in; we understand the 'natural order of things'. This is true for all our thoughts: negative and positive.
So, on August 18th, I am going to be creative. I am going to create a different belief around my artistic capabilities. I am going to relax around mess and disorder. I am going to be open to the process and the end result- no right or wrong, just 'as it happens' and it will be ok. And, I am definitely going to have fun!
How about joining me and unlocking your inner creativity?
Trackback(0)
TrackBack URI for this entryComments (0)
Subscribe to this comment's feed
