Valery is an Artist Mindset Mentor and Coach who helps creative people get out of their own way so that they can overcome the struggles that often come with the life of artists of every kind. Clients learn how to express their full potential to create more passionately, profoundly, productively & profitably.
Just as learning your ABC’s are fundamental to a basic education, learning the Four C’s of Creativity are essential to life as a powerful and deliberate creator of your art and your life experience. If you are not living a life abundant with new inspiration and enthusiasm for your creative challenges then it is likely you are missing one of the C’s, a key ingredient to the recipe for boosting your creative flow.
The four C’s of Creative Flow are:
1. Centering
“The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.” – Albert Einstein
When you are centered, in alignment with the truth of who you are, life flows effortlessly. Your moments are largely spent “in the zone” of your creative spirit. You are engaged, unaware of the passage of time and firing on all cylinders of your artistic expression and life potential.
When you are un-centered, not in harmony with your authenticity life becomes a tiresome and often anxiety ridden struggle. You work exhaustively trying to fulfill the inauthentic expectations, the ‘shoulds and must do’s” demanded of you by yourself and others. Your heart longs to express and create one thing yet you hold yourself back to pursue another, often perceptively safer, path.
You may get brilliant at creating these false expectations but they will leave you unfulfilled, living a life of desperation.
2. Choice
“How you choose to respond each moment to the movie of life determines how you see the next frame, and the next, and eventually how you feel when the movie ends.” – Don Childre
Once you acknowledge and honor your truth, stand centered in the truth of who you are, it is necessary to base the choices you make and the actions you take upon this truth. If you step off your center, make a choice that is not in alignment with your center then you will struggle. Your creative flow will be blocked leaving you frustrated and unable to fully and effectively express yourself in your work and in your life.
If your choices are not grounded in your center, your core of being, you will not create the outcomes you desire. A choice acted upon and based on your truth will deliver the outcome, and experience, you want to create. A choice to take a different path, limit yourself and your possibilities in any way will create “less than” or even a train-wreck of an experience.
Choices that speak your truth feel good. Choices that belie your truth feel bad. It’s as simple as that.
3. Commitment
“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.” – Vince Lombardi
If you show up in your life centered in your truth, making choices that honor that truth you must commit yourself to honoring the choices you make. If you quit or hold yourself back in any way then you have made a new choice that is not in alignment with your center. You have strayed from your path of authenticity and the road to creating the art you wish to express and experiences you desire.
Staying committed to yourself requires trust in and love of yourself. What you long for is your birthright. It is what you are here to create. It is your purpose in life, that is why you feel its calling deep within your soul. Even if the journey is a bit arduous, if you are committed to YOU the experience will be exciting and fulfilling.
4. Challenge
“Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they’re supposed to help you discover who you are.” – Bernice Johnson Reagon
It is a challenge to stay committed to your choices and center of truth. You will be called upon time and time again to stretch beyond your current comfort zone. Moving beyond what you know is unknown and, therefore, scary. In your fear you may Find Excuses And Reasons (F.E.A.R.) to step back from your commitment, your choices and your core of being.
You may not like your current comfort zone and say you want to achieve certain goals but if you discover that you are serving up excuses why you, others, or circumstance prevent you from maintaining your commitment then know that you are in a state of fear. Just take a deep breath. Breathe out. Center yourself. Listen to what your inner being wants. Let go of the voice of that incessant Inner Critic who works hard to keep you safe. Keeping you safe to this well-meaning yet woefully misguided egoic part of you is to keep you right where you are. It’s what you know so it’s safe.
There you have it, the four C’s of Creative Flow. As with learning how to ride a bicycle, you may fall on your butt a time or two as you apply these lessons in your life. That’s ok. Just brush yourself off and get back on your bike! Enjoy the ride.
Copyright © 2009 Valery Satterwhite
Express your full creative potential. http://www.InnerWizard.com . Get Free “Empower the Wizard Within tips”!
Life is a game. Whether you enjoy life or not depends upon the rules – your own personal rules of life.
You’re obsessed. You’re obsessed with your work, your craft. You think about your art, your character, painting, sculpture, upcoming tour, or screenplay seemingly every waking minute of every day. Heck, you even dream about it!
“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” – Albert Einstein
Ever want to tell someone to get a grip? Tell them that they have run amok in their minds and are not facing reality? Stop them from completely ‘losing it’ and self-destructing? How often have you told yourself to get a grip only to later serve up more and more justification for your misguided thinking and emotions? Your very own self-sabotage?
Many people come to me complaining that they’re tired, exhausted, unable to find balance in their life. Some have incredibly busy schedules and others live a life of casual leisure. Yet, both are exhausted. I also know people who have either busy or leisurely schedules who are not tired, they are full of energy and rarely, if ever, tire. What’s the difference?
Have you ever looked at your pet and knew exactly what he wanted to “say” to you? Have you ever noticed someone’s body language that communicated something contrary to what they were saying? Have you ever had a gut feeling that something you were about to do wouldn’t result in a good outcome? Have you ever had a hunch that turned out to be right?
Well-meaning, yet woefully misguided, advice from parents, teachers and other loved ones such as “You’ll never make a living as an artist” has become the foundational belief and mantra of the artist’s Inner Critic. What’s worse is that this also woefully misguided Inner Critic loves to be right and will serve up proof and evidence of this belief and beat you up with it day in and day out to make sure that you do, or not do, what it takes to keep this foundational belief in place. Acting upon the Inner Critic mantra of “You’ll never make a living as an artist.” your thoughts and actions create the outcome of the starving artist. And the Inner Critic is pleased. This supreme inner entity, this ‘knower of all’, is doing its job of keeping you safe and small and right!