Grow your own roots before you allow others to form them for you. Conditioning takes place when we are young and then we grow up and we can’t always differentiate what our own thoughts and beliefs are and the ones that were woven into our psyche as we were evolving from babies to children to adults.

Time is a useful concept. It helps us to make appointments, meet people and arrange activities. It is an agreed upon idea that we all collaborate with and on its own it is neutral. It does not come bearing moral judgements and condemnations. We as humans bring that upon it when we decide that we are not on time.

If I were to ask you what is stopping you from creating the art you wish to make, what would you tell me? Would you speak of all the ways the world prevents you from doing what you wish to do. Would you speak of all the objects and concepts outside of you from people, time, money and your environment that prevent you from making the art you so desire to make. At what point do you think you would consider turning away from all the external factors and taking the time to look within?

Having others like, love or approve of us has a tendency to feel good. It can make us feel seen, welcomed and wanted, all things that this vessel of humanness can appreciate.

This isn’t an issue per se, but for some people, me included, somewhere along the journey of living, it seemed appropriate to begin to contort and conform to bring forth another’s approval. As a child, you can decipher that when you behave a certain way, speak certain words, appease others, then, simply put, you get liked. You can achieve that like or approval through an active stance. It dawns on you that you have an element of agency in getting others to like you. So you do more of it. You contort a little more, you become like a chameleon; you change your colours to suit your environment. You change your opinions or dilute them down, emphasizing them depending on whose company you are in. You watch out for signals; changes in tone, facial expressions and you play an internal game of hot and cold and you adapt your behaviour accordingly.

Do you know where your creative confidence comes from? Welcome to a 6 part series on uncovering your creative confidence; we will take a look at where it can be found, how to recover it, if you feel its lacking and each chapter will end with some journal prompts to enable you to actively engage and see that you are both the seeker of the question and also the person that can provide yourself with a solution.

The series has a digital journal so that you can follow along with each episode or go through it in your own time. It is free and can be downloaded with the link provided.

https://mailchi.mp/01cebd87f00f/ucc

Do you have dreams that are precious to you and that you keep and hoard and do nothing about because you are scared of ruining them. You’re scared of denting them or scratching them. What if those dreams want to be born and you are free to scratch, dent or break them and it is all still ok? That they are resilient enough to take their place in the world however they end up appearing and you are free to enjoy them, let them go and create more dreams.

When it comes to creativity, we think we need to be in the realms of the extraordinary, but the very nature of the word implies, it only happens occasionally; that it is unusual. Yet, we live our lives in a daily basis in the ordinary moments. They make up the majority of our time and this is where we should be directing our creative attention because this is where our artistic process has a chance to evolve and thrive.

We as artists can mistakenly think that if we are having thoughts that our art and what we are creating isn’t good enough that we are unique in having that experience. That those thoughts are telling us a truth only to us and no one else. The good news is that these thoughts are not unique to you, we all have them.


What is unique to you, is the art that only you can create, because no one else sees and experiences the world the way that you do. And in turn, this impacts and influences the art that you create which is what the world needs to see. Because no one else could ever create the art that you do.

Have you ever considered that you are in a relationship with your art? That like any relationship there is a reciprocity to it. You have to put into the relationship and be present and loving within it. We consider our relationships with our loved ones, the people in our worlds. But we don’t always consider that we are in relationship with ourselves and our actions and that includes our creativity.

We need to consider the questions, what does my art give to me and what do I give to my art?

We are all storytellers. That is how humans convey messages, through stories we tell ourselves and share with others. We may not think much of them, but they are powerful in their telling and they shape the way we see ourselves and act in the world. They hold a potency that we have no idea about and if we did we would be more masterful at the stories we tell, especially about ourselves.

We create myths about our personal traits and then we go about proving those myths to ourselves over and over again. That is what we as humans like to do, prove ourselves right repeatedly. Firmly embed our beliefs until there is no room for questioning or doubt. And yet, this does not serve us.

Children have a way of learning and creating that is imbued with fun, joy and lightheartedness. They have an overwhelming amount to learn in a short space of time and they do so with a level of skill few adults possess. Instead adults, adopt a method of more struggle and less grace. They remove the fun out of their activities and allot their time in ways that they view as being responsible adults but do not take even the smallest amount of time in the day to creatively play.

What if, we chose to adopt the ways of children when it comes to creating and make art from a place of joy and light heartedness and remove the struggle and expectations we place on ourselves and allow ourselves to play, even if it is only 10 minutes of our day?

We have an internal dialogue that impacts our actions. An inner critic or an inner guide and we are not always aware which voice is driving us. They both have distinctive characteristics. It is good to know what they are, so you become aware of what your navigation tool is?

Your inner critic is urgent, comparing, competing and telling you all the ways that you are not doing enough. Your inner guide is bespoke to you and your inner calling. It is neutral, calm, clarified, it does not use comparison or competition to drive you, but instead nudges you towards what is best for your highest self.

Are you being driven by your inner guide or your inner critic?

With the start of a new year can come a set of new and shiny goals, Huge goals, transformative ones which generally require you to be a whole other person to achieve them. These types of goals are abandoned mid way into the new year and neglected for the remainder of the year. They may excite you but motivation can run dry very quickly.

How about, this year, you set mediocre goals? Ones that have a hint of possibility within them. Ones that can be woven into our everyday lives. That actually align with who we are as people today, not who we wish to be.

What if setting mediocre goals is the gateway to achieving those big shiny goals?

Creative Corrosion

What happens to our creativity when it is left unanswered or worse still, when it is met with judgement and criticism: it corrodes. The way our internal voice talks to us and accompanies us throughout our creative journeys has an impact on our actions when it comes to making art. We need to be able to focus on our creative desires whilst removing our attention from any critical internal chatter. The voice may never disappear but we are not required to listen to it.

The Waiting Room

When it comes to your creativity, are you sitting in the waiting room. It could be that you are waiting for the right time, for permission or waiting to be picked. What if your name never gets called out, eventually you have to leave the waiting room.

How about instead, you choose yourself, you don’t wait on anyone or anything outside of yourself? You create and build trust within yourself and rely on you to decide what and how you create. You no longer outsource your creativity.

Beyond Your Beliefs.

The reason we can never create anything beyond what we truly believe about ourselves is because our subconscious mind holds these beliefs and its job is to make sure that they align with our actions. So if you wonder why when you set an intention to make art and find yourself never taking action towards it, you may very well be harbouring some errant beliefs that are not conducive to your creativity. It is important to take some time to discover what it is we are really thinking and believing about ourselves to enable our intentions to match our actions.

Have you been ghosted?

Have you ever felt ghosted when you have shared your art. Whether you have sent out submissions and never heard back, or posted on social media to deafening silence, know that rejections in whatever forms are not unusual on the creative path. We need to be able to normalise this experience and find ways to navigate it when it happens.

Are You Being Realistic?

As a creative have you ever been told to be ’realistic’. Today’s episode dives into the use of the concept and why as creatives we are always straddling two worlds because we live in the seen world but we create from the unknown. No other person can predict our future for us, so no one else gets to decide what our reality looks like aside from us.

Detoxing from the opinions of others.

Why every artist needs to undertake a creative unlearning.