Make Your Art No Matter What: Moving Beyond Creative Hurdles

It is said that we are not responsible for our first thought. We are responsible for our second thought and our first action.

Sharon Louden, editor. Living and Sustaining a Creative Life: Essays by 40 Working Artists. Intellect Ltd. 2013.

writer Michelle Tea’s infinite wisdom: “Do not believe your own superstitions of what you think you need in order to write.”

My favorite plan for dealing with fear is something I’ve heard floating around 12-step programs and various therapies for years: the three As, which are awareness, acceptance, and action. This is the specific order.

Many of us who have deep misgivings about capitalism also love money or at least want more of it, and this can feel incongruent. It helps to understand money as a resource, an energy. It does not have to be intrinsically good or bad. We project meaning on it.

I can change my attitude about how I spend my days, and I can change the content of my days.

We, the individual users of money, can make our own meaning of money and decide how we want to use it.

Our thinking builds a narrative about ourselves, about everyone we encounter, and about the world around us.

our range of emotions can be stunted, too, and it’s helpful to know all the kinds of emotions humans can and do have. There are so many feelings and there is power in naming them.

As you identify thought patterns that you want to disrupt and feelings that you want to work through, taking a contrary action can be an effective tool for personal growth.