Be Honest...
With all the introspective work I've been drawn to doing lately it totally amazes me how much I can still learn...which goes along with a promise I made to myself a good many years ago, "that I didn't want to go stale" as of set in my ways and not open any more.. I've found that by having a need to seek information as much as my dyslexic brain will allow I am for sure not going stale...I think it's a blessing right now for me, hard but a blessing as of to get things some times. I've got to come at it from a different directions which is really exciting and it opens the doors and window to see more and learn more.
Acceptance and wearing a label proudly and lately of being a dyslexic is new...instead of walking in shame...I accept in honesty that it is a part of me and my make up..and I'm not ashamed by it...Oh I will get hurt when it's pointed out and I'm not prepared but I'll get over and be stronger for it..
So being honest and real and staying that way is like what I tell my kido's(young adults) all the time. "Taking care of yourself is one of the hardest things you can do but one of the best"..along with being honest and real and accepting reality...oh you can play around and laugh your fool heart out...which I encourage but to know yourself and a lifes long journey that keeps a changing...so fitting no changing can lead you to a stale mind and body but accepting change and being part of your own reality is being honest and real.. and a full time person in your own life.
so now on to week 5 "Stop being "Nice," Be Honest" Walking in this World.
Julia 's words...When we under value our selves, we literally bury ourselves in lives not our own. Meeting the expectations of others, we may misplace our own values.
Value systems are as individual as fingerprints. Violating our true selves, we soon feel worthless and undeserving. This in turn prevents our acting on our own behalf, and so we suffer further.
Quote: When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete everybody will respect you. Lao-Tzu...
My best days are when I can start off creatively and then the rest falls in to place...instead of being angry that I didn't get to the studio and create and all these responsibilities I do for others and I can't get to the studio to let out what came the day before while I was shopping ..some times and I know it now...if I don't get it out it festers and the whole family unit suffers...so knowing they self and tending to the my needs first leads to a more serene life style for me... and I have to admit there are days when I just can't and life's mess bits step in and I feel it...but I do know now what it is and how to take care of myself with it...not perfect by far, but willing to see and be.
Julia shares: about worrying... we might be selfish, It's is my considered opinion that most creative people are actually too selfless. Instead of asking "Julia, am I selfish?" they should ask, "Julia, am I selfish enough?" "selfish enough" gives us the self for self-expression...gosh isn't that beautiful to know...
As artists, when we are too nice for too long, we stop being nice at all. "I just need to get to the goddamn piano" "boy I've had that feeling and strong need too and heard it said about the same way in my head too."
If we persist in still being nice, we get to cook ourselves an ulcer or develop high blood pressure. For an artist, being too virtuous is no virtue at all. It is destructive and counterproductive. Have I mentioned that it is no fun?
Julia shares: A sustained artistic career is made of two variables -talent and character. by "character" I do not mean the good and bad kind, I simply mean the character or tone of a personality, it's exact nature. Great talent linked to an erratic character will yield and erratic career...burst of promises subverted, flashes of glorious clarity and brilliance lost or muddled by the "flaw" in the stone of resolve. A sustained creative career requires discipline-the courage to evict what does not serve the goal of excellence. That is what is means to have character...I read this many times and I'm still not sure but I think I get it...for me it's time...oh honey it's time...big girl boots go on and pulling up the breeches/yoga pants.. and getting my shovel out...the shit is needing to be shoveled and then the clearing is there for new growth...and you have to stay at it even though you don't like standing next to the stinky parts in your life..you have to be real...being selfish in some areas of my life means I respect all of me...the creative and not creative parts.
more good stuff, from Julia: For an artist, the life of his work is endangered. Self-indulgence spells self-endangerment. Our large self falls prey to our petty vices. It is enlightened self-interest to be selfish enough to be self-protective. Being self-protective may not seem "nice". We may say no to invitations that do not serve us.
As an artist, being nice is not nearly as important as being authentic. When we are what we truly are and say what we truly mean, we stop shouldering the responsibility for everyone Else's shortfalls and become accountable to ourselves. When we do, astonishing shifts occur. We become aligned with our true higher power, and creative grace flows freely. ... Oh this is a hard one to stomach, but when you do...as stated...life is worth living joyfully and with such gratitude.
Teaching those around us what our priorities are-and remembering them ourselves-makes for harmonious relationships. Clarifying ourselves to others brings honest connections that are grounded in mutual respect. Honesty starts with us...Know thyself...and that's where I've been this past year but mainly this winter season..
A little honest self-love does wonders for our personality, and for our art.
It is impossible to say yes to ourselves and our art until we learn to say no to others. People do not mean us harm, but they do harm us when they ask for more then we can give. When we go ahead and give it to them, we are harming ourselves as well. so I can't be all to all people and think I'm there god and can do all so ...When we stop playing God, God can play through us.
It is never too late to start over. It is never past the point of no return for our artist to recover. We can heap years, decades, and lifetime of insult upon our artisv and it is so resilient, so powerful, and so stubborn that it will come back to life when we give it the smallest opportunity. Instead of being coaxed into one more over extension of energies in the name of helping others, we can help ourselves by coaxing our artist out with the promise of some protected time to be listened to, talked with, and interacted with.
After reading this all a few days ago and re reading it now and typing about, and commenting as I go along...I getting it I think...Some how a long the way we have been instilled this misconception that doing for ourselves first was a bad thing...and we were trained it for many, many years. I really don't know when it started but for the longest time many creative souls have been looking for self-expression in any form but have feared, block and stumble to do so...and I mean any human being...I know I've been sharing from the book and it's for artist but I'm a firm believer in we are all creatives in our own authentic self...and it could be with the way you might fold clothes or the way you sweep the drive way. We, as a human race got lost in some ideology that we have to keep giving all of ourselves...and that got way out of whack...now not that it's not good to do a little service work now an than...things got out of balance and to gain balance each indiviual has to start with themselves and then the rest will flow out from there. we...lost perspective of what that whole thing meant...so now more and more people are seeking to find themselves and when they touch base on the things that allow them to self-express, then get a taste of it...
Out of the disadvantage put upon me because of my learning difficutlies that I label myself to have as dyslexic, I'm realizing now how such a gift it was...for what ever reason that I wasn't to understand it...that allow me to seek other ways to self-express..and that was with art..though I'm not all that and not trying to prove it to anyone. how and what am I going to do with that...I seek success in my life and by seeking that success which is a different story, I seek my joys and happy spots and place in my life so summing it all up...the journey is a long one to know thyself but to be real, straight and honest is how I'm going to get there and my real is to self-express though art in some way or form...Like cooking a wonderful dinner for my family with love and creativity...
Acceptance and wearing a label proudly and lately of being a dyslexic is new...instead of walking in shame...I accept in honesty that it is a part of me and my make up..and I'm not ashamed by it...Oh I will get hurt when it's pointed out and I'm not prepared but I'll get over and be stronger for it..
So being honest and real and staying that way is like what I tell my kido's(young adults) all the time. "Taking care of yourself is one of the hardest things you can do but one of the best"..along with being honest and real and accepting reality...oh you can play around and laugh your fool heart out...which I encourage but to know yourself and a lifes long journey that keeps a changing...so fitting no changing can lead you to a stale mind and body but accepting change and being part of your own reality is being honest and real.. and a full time person in your own life.
so now on to week 5 "Stop being "Nice," Be Honest" Walking in this World.
Julia 's words...When we under value our selves, we literally bury ourselves in lives not our own. Meeting the expectations of others, we may misplace our own values.
Value systems are as individual as fingerprints. Violating our true selves, we soon feel worthless and undeserving. This in turn prevents our acting on our own behalf, and so we suffer further.
Quote: When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete everybody will respect you. Lao-Tzu...
My best days are when I can start off creatively and then the rest falls in to place...instead of being angry that I didn't get to the studio and create and all these responsibilities I do for others and I can't get to the studio to let out what came the day before while I was shopping ..some times and I know it now...if I don't get it out it festers and the whole family unit suffers...so knowing they self and tending to the my needs first leads to a more serene life style for me... and I have to admit there are days when I just can't and life's mess bits step in and I feel it...but I do know now what it is and how to take care of myself with it...not perfect by far, but willing to see and be.
Julia shares: about worrying... we might be selfish, It's is my considered opinion that most creative people are actually too selfless. Instead of asking "Julia, am I selfish?" they should ask, "Julia, am I selfish enough?" "selfish enough" gives us the self for self-expression...gosh isn't that beautiful to know...
As artists, when we are too nice for too long, we stop being nice at all. "I just need to get to the goddamn piano" "boy I've had that feeling and strong need too and heard it said about the same way in my head too."
If we persist in still being nice, we get to cook ourselves an ulcer or develop high blood pressure. For an artist, being too virtuous is no virtue at all. It is destructive and counterproductive. Have I mentioned that it is no fun?
Julia shares: A sustained artistic career is made of two variables -talent and character. by "character" I do not mean the good and bad kind, I simply mean the character or tone of a personality, it's exact nature. Great talent linked to an erratic character will yield and erratic career...burst of promises subverted, flashes of glorious clarity and brilliance lost or muddled by the "flaw" in the stone of resolve. A sustained creative career requires discipline-the courage to evict what does not serve the goal of excellence. That is what is means to have character...I read this many times and I'm still not sure but I think I get it...for me it's time...oh honey it's time...big girl boots go on and pulling up the breeches/yoga pants.. and getting my shovel out...the shit is needing to be shoveled and then the clearing is there for new growth...and you have to stay at it even though you don't like standing next to the stinky parts in your life..you have to be real...being selfish in some areas of my life means I respect all of me...the creative and not creative parts.
more good stuff, from Julia: For an artist, the life of his work is endangered. Self-indulgence spells self-endangerment. Our large self falls prey to our petty vices. It is enlightened self-interest to be selfish enough to be self-protective. Being self-protective may not seem "nice". We may say no to invitations that do not serve us.
As an artist, being nice is not nearly as important as being authentic. When we are what we truly are and say what we truly mean, we stop shouldering the responsibility for everyone Else's shortfalls and become accountable to ourselves. When we do, astonishing shifts occur. We become aligned with our true higher power, and creative grace flows freely. ... Oh this is a hard one to stomach, but when you do...as stated...life is worth living joyfully and with such gratitude.
Teaching those around us what our priorities are-and remembering them ourselves-makes for harmonious relationships. Clarifying ourselves to others brings honest connections that are grounded in mutual respect. Honesty starts with us...Know thyself...and that's where I've been this past year but mainly this winter season..
A little honest self-love does wonders for our personality, and for our art.
It is impossible to say yes to ourselves and our art until we learn to say no to others. People do not mean us harm, but they do harm us when they ask for more then we can give. When we go ahead and give it to them, we are harming ourselves as well. so I can't be all to all people and think I'm there god and can do all so ...When we stop playing God, God can play through us.
It is never too late to start over. It is never past the point of no return for our artist to recover. We can heap years, decades, and lifetime of insult upon our artisv and it is so resilient, so powerful, and so stubborn that it will come back to life when we give it the smallest opportunity. Instead of being coaxed into one more over extension of energies in the name of helping others, we can help ourselves by coaxing our artist out with the promise of some protected time to be listened to, talked with, and interacted with.
After reading this all a few days ago and re reading it now and typing about, and commenting as I go along...I getting it I think...Some how a long the way we have been instilled this misconception that doing for ourselves first was a bad thing...and we were trained it for many, many years. I really don't know when it started but for the longest time many creative souls have been looking for self-expression in any form but have feared, block and stumble to do so...and I mean any human being...I know I've been sharing from the book and it's for artist but I'm a firm believer in we are all creatives in our own authentic self...and it could be with the way you might fold clothes or the way you sweep the drive way. We, as a human race got lost in some ideology that we have to keep giving all of ourselves...and that got way out of whack...now not that it's not good to do a little service work now an than...things got out of balance and to gain balance each indiviual has to start with themselves and then the rest will flow out from there. we...lost perspective of what that whole thing meant...so now more and more people are seeking to find themselves and when they touch base on the things that allow them to self-express, then get a taste of it...
Out of the disadvantage put upon me because of my learning difficutlies that I label myself to have as dyslexic, I'm realizing now how such a gift it was...for what ever reason that I wasn't to understand it...that allow me to seek other ways to self-express..and that was with art..though I'm not all that and not trying to prove it to anyone. how and what am I going to do with that...I seek success in my life and by seeking that success which is a different story, I seek my joys and happy spots and place in my life so summing it all up...the journey is a long one to know thyself but to be real, straight and honest is how I'm going to get there and my real is to self-express though art in some way or form...Like cooking a wonderful dinner for my family with love and creativity...
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Thank you for support, interest and viewing my inner life with my outer life on this Blog. Wishing you many creative blessings and peace to you and yours,
~v~Laura