Monday, September 23, 2013

Getting Past the Roadblocks


My dream is to create an art quilt that honors my Japanese American Heritage and have it publicly displayed. WOW! What an dream, but how to make it come true. What might stand in my way?

When I though about what I might stand in my way I thought of my very real insecurities about creativity. What has happened in the past is that when I try to create art and it doesn't look the way that I think it should look, I have gotten discouraged. What I will do often is just play it "safe" and copy other people's work. I want to get past this. So, starting from today, I WILL JOYFULLY CREATE WITH FREEDOM AND CONFIDENCE!

Here are the things that I have come to realize about creativity:

1) Comparing myself to others is not a fair comparison because everyone started out somewhere and worked at getting better. Putting in the time to practice and get better will pay off in the long run.
2) Creativity is individual - there are no rights and wrongs.
3) The work I admire most, is work that is straight from the heart. I need to just listed to my heart.
4) When kids first start out creating art, they are naturally creative. It is only when they start comparing themselves to others that they become to afraid to trust their creativity. Comparing yourself to others is TOXIC to creativity!
5) I recognize that I have been very creative in other areas of my life, such as in creating reunions, birthday parties, technology projects. I got there by taking risks and building on my successes.
6) I have the ability to create in art if I let myself experiment and know that it is a process which takes time to develop.
7) I can take classes to improve my artistic skills and quilting. There is a community out there to help me.
8) I need to be my own best friend in the area of creativity and give myself credit for taking risks and for my efforts to create. I must treat myself in the same way that I would treat my daughters or a friend.
9) I admire creative people. I want to be one of them. I admire musicians and people who honor and build community.
10) There are plenty of quilt artists that are self-taught and started out in the same way that I am. I plan to contact at least one of them and tell them about my dream.
11) When I look for a greater purpose to fulfill, I am motivated to forge ahead and be creative (example: Motivated by the goal cheering up a friend fighting cancer, I easily created a quilt).

I can do it!


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