Hello My Loves
It has been a while since I have been on here (or anywhere online come to that) but a little while ago I got in such an awesome flow and wrote what I think is a pretty inspiring email to my newsletter crew that unusually I wanted to share it here too, and trust that those that need to hear this find it =)
Much love
Jennibellie
PS You can sign up for my newsletter if you are not already on the list HERE & you will receive tons of free goodies immediately, woohoooowooooo!!
.......xoxo.......
Through the Crack
…inspiration comes.
For a few days I’ve
wanted to write you, but as you may or may not know I’ve been out of my usual
making stuff cycle due to personal circumstances and so didn’t feel like I
wanted to until I had something of value to offer (plus I think there was a
little resistance there…more on that later).
So for about 6 weeks
I’ve been immersed in...I’m not exactly sure what yet. Some new interests (I
started gaming, whhhhaaaaattt??), a little re-evaluating, lots of tasty food, plenty
of shopping for beads and new arm candy and not much art. Like any. At all.
This came as a shock to me because any time tragedy has struck in my life art
has always been my go to. It has been both my processing, and my escaping
mechanism, for at least the past eight years.
This time felt a lot
different and while the inner critics were nagging at me a little for ‘being
lazy’, ‘wasting time’ etc etc I know myself well enough now to know when I am
in resistance and when I just need a break. When I need a break I give myself
that space, I explore other things such as those listed above. When I am in
resistance (like sending this email) I MAKE myself come out of it, which may
sound harsh (especially for the usual Jennibellie-style philosophy & teachings)
but that is in fact sometimes the kindest thing you can do for yourself.
Because only then do you get to remember who you really are.
You get to breathe
in air again. You get to reacquaint yourself with that quiet inner satisfaction
of having created something once more. You get feel your wholeness.
A few days ago I felt
the need for taking a break turn into resistance. It’s a subtle shift, but if
you honestly check in with yourself the truth of whether you are in *real* need
of a break or in resistance will always show itself. I looked a little deeper; I found the cause of
my resistance was in the idea of ‘having’ to get back in the saddle. So I made myself just sit in my studio
chair, something I hadn’t done in over a month. I wasn’t intending to do
anything, just be there. Then I made
myself pull out my journal and do some written journaling. It’s not that hard, I
could manage that at least couldn’t I? It
took TWO LINES of feeling pretty crap about not art
journaling/painting/creating and woe is me before I said ‘F*** this’ and I got
the paints out. Literally I shall let you read my diary entry of that encounter
if you like by placing a picture of the completed page below.
Once I began painting
in broad strokes of thick, indelicate sloshes of acrylic paint I decided to
post this above pic to facebook stating ‘Beginnings of the first art journal
page in over a month. Starting to feel myself coming back’. The response I got included
many who have been/are feeling the same way, and given what we have all been
going through lately (the rush of the holiday, the back to work rejolt, the
gloomy winter, the upheaval to our routines) it’s hardly surprising that so
many of us are finding our creativity a difficult place to navigate, or even
get in the area of right now - and if you happen to be amongst us here are my
tips for you right now...
Don’t wait for the
flood!
Sometimes when we
take time away from our creativity our muse can tap us on the shoulder and out
of the blue and give us a million projects and ideas we want to immediately get
started on. How nice! BUT, it is not always how things work, and I see many
people waiting for this to happen in
order to get them creating again. The result is streams of emails I get
from people telling me they ‘haven’t created in over a year’, ‘two years’ and
once even ‘six years’. Waiting for the call of the angels and the flood of
inspiration to wash in is a very romantic notion. It sounds so lovely, BUT when
it actually stops us from creating then I think we are a little too attached to
this pretty, but impractical image of creativity. Sometimes you HAVE to MAKE yourself. I think this is too important to
be said only once, SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO
MAKE YOURSELF. You. Just. Do!
But again this
doesn’t have to be harsh. It can be as easy as sitting in a chair. Then doing a
little journaling. It can be as easy as taking steps 1-2-3, rather than jumping
to 50 straight away. It can be as easy as coaxing, cajoling, caressing your
scared self back into the vicinity of inspiration…and then allowing the teeniest,
tiniest spark of it to direct you.
Inspiration does not
always come in an overwhelming flood of excitement.
It can come through
the slightest crack in the door…but you have to be willing to take a deep
breath, grab that door handle and ever so slightly, open it up!
Here is that finished
page that inspired this post:
If you are feeling
yourself in resistance then I have a treat for you. I have made my Creative
Resistance Remedy Workshop HALF PRICE for the New Year.
This price is even
cheaper than when I launched it at the Early Bird Price & was originally
just for the first week of this New Year but as I have not been actively
posting/emailing about it I have decided to extend it for you. In truth if you
want to know the exact HOW I made myself sit down and write this email then the
exact trick I used is shared in this course (which now I have written it I feel
pretty amazing actually, surprise surprise…NOT! lol).
This workshop is a
perfect New Years workshop to take as it is for those of you that are ready to
make your creativity more important than your resistance, your comparison, your
procrastination, your perfectionism, your analysis paralysis and all your
critics and create your projects already!
Sound good? Awesome! You can
read the details, watch the accompanying video & grab this bargain by
clicking the ‘Join’ button here:
Much love & Happy
Creative 2018
Jennibellie
