The Purpose of Art: Growing My Business From My Mind Up!

I had to share this post from my art business blog, because it’s just fitting here!

Original Post: http://artbyjmiriam.com/2014/01/22/the-purpose-of-art-growing-my-business-from-the-mind-up/

(It’s a little prettier on http://www.artbyjmiriam.com, but I’m posting it here as well anyway!)

The third time was the charm.

In the past I’d attempted to create my own art business, a few times, and failed. There are a lot of reasons for my previous lack of success and almost all of them had to do with how I think. There were a few areas in which I needed to acquire more business knowledge, or a few other tools and techniques, but for the most part, my belief system about myself and my work is what inhibited me from gaining success.

When I was about 16 I began taking riding lessons from an incredible horse trainer. As I was almost overwhelmed with new knowledge and constant orders being barked as me as I was riding (Figure 8! RIGHT NOW! Tighter Reins! Post! You’re out of rhythm! Work that horse!!!!) though it was challenging, I couldn’t not do it. And as difficult as it was, after about three weeks, I noticed I wasn’t getting yelled at anymore, and I could see and feel my rein and rope handling skills as well as my riding seat had dramatically improved. But I was still nowhere near the level of my trainer, Steve, he was a master horseman.

Of all of the knowledge I gained from this man, I think the most important thing he told me came in a conversation about my frustration with the speed, or lack thereof, my growth as a budding horsewoman. Steve said, “You’ve got to want it as bad as you want air. When you reach that point, you know it’s yours.”

My heart sank when he told me that, because I knew I wasn’t there. I wanted it really, really bad, (I was pretty serious, I’d peppered my wall with Pat Parelli quotes that Steve had highlighted in the book he gave me, and studied them, memorized many of them) but I was also a teenager looking to explore the world and wasn’t really ready to settle my focus on one thing.

Then came the confusion of having two very strong passions: Parelli Natural Horsemanship (what Steve introduced me to) and Art. I spent years thinking I couldn’t become a certified Parelli instructor, because I’d have to give up art. And I couldn’t just do art, because I wouldn’t be able to have horses in my life at the level I want them to be. So I thought I had to find a way to fuse the two.

So I went to school for Media Communication (Graphic Design, Journalism, etc.). But I discovered through freelance work that I really wasn’t interested in designing things for other people’s businesses. Now what!?

Now I know, like I know, like I know, that I want to build my own art business. I want absolute, complete, and total creative control over my business and my life. I want to fulfill every creative idea and drive that is born into my mind. And I want to independently pursue my horsemanship at the same time! Why not?

Why not!?

Where do we get the idea that we can’t have both? It’s blasphemy. We can absolutely have our cake and eat it too. And that’s what I’m doing now. I’m listening to what I feel called toward, and following that no matter what. Guess what happens when you stop resisting your true self…yep, the whole world begins to open up to you in unimaginable ways! Guess what else happens when you stop resisting yourself…you finally discover the passion and desire so deep that you find the things you want as bad as you want air. Once you get a whiff of that kind of fire, meaning starts pouring into your life. Excitement starts pouring into your life. Purpose starts pouring into your life, the greatest purpose, of which, is the discovery of pure joy.

The purpose of life is joy and joy is found in service. We are hardwired for connection with others. I used to have a difficult time with the “joy is found in service” idea, until I realized, you really must pursue what you’re called towards and once you discover that deep-seated passion and desire, then you have found your form of service to mankind. It’s not about forcing yourself to do duties you think you should do to be a good person. It’s about answering the call, which is unique to each person, and giving yourself to your passion, which in turn gives to others.

Always listen to the inner voice, which requires stillness and quiet to hear. Your inner voice whispers first, knocks second, and then, like an acme cartoon, drops the piano on your head from ten stories above. Life is easy when you listen for the whispers and act on those. And life is difficult when you do not hear your own voice.

I ignored the voice that whispered the great importance of my art and my pursuit of natural horsemanship as much as I could in the first 12 years after high school. I would pursue each one individually and in depth for a while, then I’d turn towards the other. I could never fully let either one go. But I felt like I couldn’t fully grab on to each one at the same time. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I didn’t know I wasn’t even allowing myself to dream big. The thought, “Oh it would be nice to own my own art business and just work from home in a studio creating art and spend my spare time studying natural horsemanship,” would come across my mind and be immediately dismissed as a silly impossibility–for years!

Even more ridiculous, based on what a few people said to me in high school, I formed a limiting belief that artists don’t make money and art cannot be a real career. Not only is that not true, read Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind–Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. There has never been a more important time in he history of the planet to be creative! In the day and age of outsourcing and digitizing jobs, creativity is in demand! I have also had the opportunity to meet and admire highly, highly, highly successful artists over the years. So what is the purpose of art and why is it so incredibly valuable?

Art expresses emotions in ways words cannot. It is the language of the soul. I also now see the entire world as art. Art is design. Everything we see, taste, touch, smell, and feel has a design to it. Nature has a design. Furniture has a design. Cars have a design. Food has a design. Advertisements have a design. We are living in a time in which, for the most part, we are past just trying to survive. We are looking for better ways to express, communicate, and experience the elements of life. So, we need creative thinkers! And for those trying to help the less fortunate, including the bottom billion, we need out-of-the-box thinkers and designers as well. For that, we turn to creative people. Who are stereo-typically the most creative people on the planet? Artists!

So my 10+ years of wandering through the wilderness of my own limiting beliefs ultimately led to the shattering of those limiting beliefs. Not only is art important, but the world is in desperate need of artists. Not only is working from home a plausible reality, but today the world is filled with thriving home businesses. Not only can artists have very successful careers, but they can, and do, have wildly successful, life-long careers. Not only do I not have to choose between my passion for art and my passion for natural horsemanship, but I can equally pursue greatness in both of these loves. And last, but not least, I have the ability to create and live any kind of life I want to have. I am good enough, I am worthy of having all I want. All I have to do is begin!

All any of us have to do is begin!

And it begins with gratitude.

This is from a different day, but I’m always fulfilled when I’m with my horses!

Monday, when I went out to feed my horses, I didn’t just look around at the countryside I was driving through it on my way to their pasture; I devoured the subtle beauty with my eyes. The light was amazing! The sky was filled with dark and light. Dark clouds and shadows, which became darker when the sun peeked through the clouds and shone down like brilliant spotlights, setting the yellow and brown grasses over the rolling hills aglow against a stormy backdrop. It was incredible.

Then, after I got done strewing multiple square bales about the pasture for my horses’ grazing pleasure, I sat and watched the ever-changing light show dotting the hillsides amidst the serenity of three quietly grazing horses. My eyes were just feasting on the beauty and awe of it all! As I waited for the water tank to fill, I laid on my back and watched the soft, slow rush of the clouds overhead, blending together, separating, and blending together again. Dark clouds, light clouds, and the deepest blue sky. I spent that afternoon lost in wonderment and filled with so much gratitude for everything in my life, good and bad, that led to that moment.

Love seeing the world through my horse’s mane.

It’s these moments of bliss that spark the greatest clarity and creativity in my life. I take these feelings and ideas together and translate them into artwork. The purpose of artwork is to express emotion, to spark some feeling of recognition in someone’s soul, and by that I mean many things, including something as simple as seeing a piece of artwork and thinking “I love that, I want that!” That magnetic pull towards something that is just desirable to look at, because it cultivates good or powerful feelings in you. That’s what artwork does. It can’t necessarily be explained with words, but things do matter. What you surround yourself with in your home or office or wherever you work, matters. Paintings matter. Sculptures matter. All artwork matters, and it matters a great deal.

Bono says, “Music can change the temperature of a room.” I think all art can do that. I believe the basis of the universe is energy and therefore, artwork is energy too. It’s amazing how hanging something on wall can change a room.

So, my mission statement is to create artwork that promotes the cultivation of freedom, expansion and joy. You could say, I really want to get my art out there and change the temperature of some rooms! And I believe it will!

I have reached that place in which want to create great art as bad as I want air. It feels like coming home. Before I finish one project, I’m dreaming up ways to do the next one better. This drive to do things better and better used to bum me out, and stop me in my tracks, but now it’s exciting! Now I understand that expansion is just part of the fabric of life. You cannot experience life without forming a desire to do better. It’s a fundamental part of the human experience, and once you get on board with it, it’s also a recipe for achieving great success!

So my business is growing from my mind up. It’s growing from my inside out. My life is filled with meaning and purpose. My artwork is filled with meaning and purpose, because all of it is born out of my own personal love and drive to create it. I’m in hot pursuit of creating the life I’ve always wanted!

Pursuing my business and my horsemanship goals 1000% is like suiting up to climb the tallest mountain on the planet, getting all my climbing  gear strapped on, and taking that first step up. The flood of excitement, joy, and peace of just not resisting my desire to climb that mountain–I don’t think it can adequately be put into words.

Just the combination of realizing what I really, really, really want, and moving towards it, I wish that for everyone! I want that for everyone!

And so here I go, full of excitement, and a little fear, but looking forward to the journey to the top of the mountain. I’m looking forward to sharing that journey up the mountain with you and, if you haven’t already begun, I hope you feel inspired to begin your own mountain climb as well.

After all, life was always meant to be fun and the darkness was always meant to more brilliantly reveal to you the light!