The Eternal Path

“There’s really not a day that goes by that I don’t play music in some way or another. If music makes somebody’s day a little bit better, even for the three minutes that the song is on, then it’s working. 

I’ve always had a big fire inside me to create something. If I don’t feel like I’m creating something, then I feel like I’m dying and that’s what fuels the music and the songs. I will always write music.” 

Zac Brown of the Zac Brown Band

I was listening to Abraham (Abraham-Hicks) yesterday on my way home from feeding my horses. It never ceases to amaze me how I can listen to the same mp3s over and over and still get something new out of them every time. Abraham teaches us that, “We can’t get it wrong and we’ll never get it done–that we can’t get it wrong because we’ll never get it done. Life is an eternal path. There is always going to be a gap between the eternal being that we are and the place we’ve physically expanded to, because the contrast of life is always going to cause us to launch new desires.”

My new understanding is that the second we launch a desire for something, the eternal part of us, being entirely free, immediately expands to this new level. This is one and the same with the teachings that all of our desires are created in a vibrational reality before they manifest into our physical reality. The eternal part of us is always going to be ahead of the physical culmination of our being. So it’s not about closing this gap, but it is about finding the path of least resistance from vibrational reality to physical manifestation. It’s about finding the path of least resistance to integrity, to the integration of our eternal spirit and our physical being. And then, with the launching of new desires,  a new gap is formed. It is right and it is good. There is no need to ever feel bad for not being where you want to be. It’s not about arriving at the desired destination, it’s about the realization that, being an eternal being in a physical body, we are always co-creating our own worlds in every moment. It’s about the realization of our creative power. It’s about the fun of creating whatever we want! This is why it’s so important to find joy in the now, to have fun on your way to the desires you’ve launched. Life was meant to be fun and that is the most difficult lesson for me to learn.

That’s also why I LOVE this Zac Brown quote so much. I love, love, love it! It just penetrated my soul as this is exactly how I feel about my art. I can feel that the eternal me has expanded into a place where the fire inside of me that drives me to create has grown into an inferno and I feel like I’m dying a little bit every day I don’t get to immerse myself in creating art. So I’m trying to reach that place in which I’m having my fun on my way to the great success I’m reaching for, like I feel Zac Brown has mastered. When a desire for something that hasn’t manifested gets extremely powerful, it’s imperative to achieve the state of allowing that lets the manifestation in…which means it’s imperative to have fun, to be filled with gratitude, to laugh, and to be joyous in the now. None of which are things I want to do! I want to work, and work, and work until I make my dreams manifest right here right now! But that’s only OK if I have fun, if I’m filled with gratitude, if I laugh, and if I’m joyous as I work my way to living ALL that I love. What I really, really, really want cannot manifest in my life as long as my energy is split between my deep-seated desires and my disappointment or devastation at not having what I want so badly yet. I have to do the work and do it with a smile, inside and out.

It feels really close. Everything I want feels really close. Almost every day I am getting flashes of blissful memories of times in my life in which I have felt amazingly free and joy-filled. What’s interesting, and I don’t know what it means, is that most of the memories are from travelling.Like the first time I stepped out of the car at a gas station in Sedona and felt like I’d just walked onto a movie set. The rock is so red, it didn’t seem real! It’s absolutely gorgeous and every time I go there, I am awestruck by Sedona’s deep beauty and inspired to create.

I also remember driving alone, in my early 20’s, to Arizona on my way to get my Grandma, driving through the Texas panhandle, seeing giant tumbleweeds come rolling across the highway in the darkness of night and feeling like I was in another world. That was my very first trip to Arizona. I get flashes of my first time taking Grandma home from Arizona, driving through the mountains outside of Flagstaff and feeling that heart-pounding excitement of seeing snow-covered mountaintops and log cabins for the first time. I remember the amazing feeling of driving through the Navajo reservation in Arizona. (I feel some incredible connection with Native Americans.)

I remember walking off the plane in Hawaii, in January, having left the Midwest in a blizzard and arrived in a tropical paradise on the same day. I’ve gotten flashes of my first night in Cancun, walking and dancing along the beach, and the soft roar of the ocean. The sand and ocean were just glowing in the moonlight. And I remember, when I was in high school, spending so much time in the barn, out with the horses, and being out so early in the morning horseback riding that I got to watch the sun rise from the back of my horse.

When I start thinking about all of the places I’ve gotten to see and things I’ve gotten to do, I am filled with joy and gratitude for the immense abundance of amazing moments I’ve collected. And when I write poetry, when I create, and when I feel really connected to the lyrics in a song…I’ve noticed the importance of the little moments. I’ve noticed that when people think back over their lives, it’s the little things that matter most; those little details that spark emotion in us. For me, the sweet smell of hay, the way the leather creaked when I swung into that old Hereford saddle…even the smell of wet saddle blankets just fills me with fond memories of horses from my youth. Even right now, the house may be messy, but there are steaks and potatoes on the grill and three adorable puppies basking in the warm glow of the living room. Every moment there’s something to appreciate…the sun warming your back, a good song on the radio, or even just the senses to experience your own unique, personal interpretation of life. Appreciation for the very breath you’re able to draw. Raw gratitude for all things and experiences.

Last night as I was driving to work, not really wanting to be driving to work, so I put my headphones on and listened to “Free” by the Zac Brown Band. I listened as I cruised under one glowing streetlight to the next; from one stoplight to the next. I listened as the hustle and bustle of cars and people increased as I drew nearer to the heart of town, finally found a place to park, and hopped out to walk several blocks to the bar I work at on the weekends. I listened as I passed person after person and glowing lamp after glowing lamp, past old brownstone buildings, the neon-filled windows of bars, and decorative storefronts. I listened as I lit out across old brick streets and a cool breeze whipped my hair like a flag in the wind. And I listened as I bounded up the steps and through the front doors of the bar. We are just as free, free as we’ll ever be. These moments, when I’m heading to work, when I have do laundry, when I have to spend soooo much time doing things other than what I really want to do, I can feel the raging inferno inside threatening to consume me if I don’t release it into some form of creativity. I know what Zac Brown is talking about. I feel it all the time.

But instead of railing against the invisible brick walls or rattling the bars of the invisible prison I’ve created in my mind by feeding into a succession of thoughts about how all I want to do is be free to create all the time, but I’m not…I’m going to honor that fire in me by finding joy in the now I don’t want; by finding joy in the things that must be done that I don’t want to do. I’m going to honor that fire by opening the door of my heart in every moment for its expansion in my life, no matter what that moment contains. I’m going to keep throwing that door of my heart open, because what if it’s right? What if it’s right that I have to work two jobs as I build my art business? What if it’s right because it’s the path of least resistance to meeting the right person to connect me to something big and wonderful for my business? What if it’s right because I’m going to learn something that will forever change the course of my life in the process? Just…what if it’s right? What if the very thing I hate and don’t want, is actually right and I just need to open my heart to receive it? What if the linchpin for everything that I want exists within the walls of everything that I don’t? 

What if!?

Tonight I have to work. But today I got to write. It isn’t enough. I don’t just want more, I need more. I need more time to create. There’s an urgency roaring within me. I feel like my life depends on it. I don’t just want to create as bad as I want air. I need to create with the same necessity in which I need to breathe. And that is how I know I’m close, I’m so close, to all of my dreams coming true. If I can keep my heart propped open for all of life as it is to be loved, I know all that I love and want will become my life fully. I’m so close. I’m so close! It’s only a matter of openhearted time.

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!

Who Am I?

One morning I woke up, rolled out of bed, shuffled to the kitchen, and made myself some toast. As I started to sit down to eat it, the idea to write something struck me. I grabbed a notebook, a pen, and my toast. Then I sat down and wrote this poem very quickly. It’s just one of those things, I never know when that’s going to happen. I still haven’t found the right photography vessel for this poem either, but I will. For fun, I felt the urge to look up black and white photography to post with this poem. None of these photos are mine, but, I absolutely love them, find them inspirational, and complimentary to my poem. There is something special about the simplicity of black and white photography in contrast to how deeply expressive it can be. And there’s something special about this poem. I love that it leaves everyone with a deep question to answer!

 

Who Am I? 

Hidden behind flesh and bone,

An intricate human mask,

Lies the one who never dies,

The spirit that I am.

 

I am not the many roles I play,

The things I do, the things I say,

I am the unseparated,

From the Truth, the Light, and the Way.

 

Hidden behind my human fears,

I am fearless, I am love,

Hidden behind my human flaws,

I’m a perfect child of God.

 

Hidden, I don’t want to be hidden anymore,

Tear down these walls!

Throw open that door!

Let the divine in me use these eyes to see,

Forever changing the world around me…

 

Free to give love and free to receive,

The ability to see the face of God in every living thing,

Connection to all brothers and sisters through the purpose I am living,

Forgiveness of human errors, consciousness rising…

 

Slowly rising, I am the awareness of breath,

I am the observer of my human thoughts and deeds,

I am the experience of Heaven despite my creations of Hell,

Now who are you, who are you really?

 

-J. Miriam

 

Humanity is a Boundless, Absorbing Heart… Let us Raise Ourselves like Lanterns! …And Shine

You Tell Me

It cannot be so you say…

Simple hands cannot change the fate of humanity.

I say humanity is a boundless, absorbing heart,

Transcending death, and generations, and centuries,

Absorbing bullets, and stitches, and tear gas,

Enduring humiliation, and illegal abortions, and thankless jobs.

I say to you, the heart of humanity has not and will not be broken.

And let us raise ourselves like lanterns.

With the millions of others,

With the mad, and the forgotten, and the strong of heart,

To shine.

– Jewel

I’m a huge Jewel fan. She is my favorite female artist of all time, and I feel that this poem, much like her song Hands, has a very beautiful message–one I think we can’t be reminded of enough. That the human heart can endure the unimaginable and has done so for centuries. That we are never broken. And that in our humanness, with our own hands and with great love, we have the ability to transform the world.

Speaking from my own perspective, and taking my own small hands, with great love, I am assuming the duties of being a Parelli Natural Horsemanship Ambassador. I received the promotional materials today: 12 Parelli Horse and Soul Tour posters and 50 tickets. For those unacquainted with Parelli, their mission statement is: “To make the world a better place for horses and the people that love them.” They are all about the fusion of human and horse psychology and putting the relationship between horse and human above every other goal–something that can and should be transferred to human relationships with other humans as well! The program is taught in levels with a set of core principles that will transform all areas of your life if you embark on this journey with your horse. It is a truly remarkable program! And as a natural born horse-lover from birth, I can’t be more excited about doing my part to help spread this message.

I’m all set to begin my Parelli Natural Horsemanship Ambassador marketing duties!

Furthermore, today I decided to reorganize my art studio (also known as the dining room, ha!) and ended up just turning on my music and repainting my artful shelf/wine rack (can’t seem to remember what it’s actually called). It was an ugly brown and it is now almost all white. It’s become quite a project with all the swirly, curly metal to paint! But hopefully I’ll be putting my studio back together later tonight. I have a lot of work that I’m excited to do, but at a certain point… areas of creation need to be reorganized and revamped for optimal creating to be able to take place! My makeshift studio had definitely reached that point! Though I like being surrounded by wine in my work, the wine fridge just needed to be out of my creative space and has been happily moved to the kitchen, giving me a little much-needed extra space. At first it seemed like a daunting task, but who says cleaning can’t be a creative act also? Perspective is everything.

For instance, today was just another seemingly ordinary day. I woke up, took a shower, and ate breakfast. The sink was full of dishes from making dinner the night before. Pieces of my boyfriend’s beer-brewing/equipment-making materials were strewn about the living room floor and abandoned for the next five days. The dogs had tracked in mud, leaving muddy paw prints sprinkled across the linoleum in the kitchen. Laundry was waiting patiently in baskets. But in pulling myself out of the thinking about how much never-ending work cleaning the house is, I took a breath and realized, this is really sacred. The life and joy the dogs bring to the house… is sacred. Having a loving life partner who is so passionate about his hobbies, is sacred. Having food to eat and nice dishes to wash, is sacred. It’s finally April and the rain from the past couple of days has brought the grass to life again, sprinkling the yard with spikes of vibrant green. Buds are swelling on the trees. That fat squirrel is back stuffing his face with the sunflower seeds I threw out in the front yard. There is no ordinary day. Every day is extraordinary whether we notice it or not, just as there’s no such thing as a gray day. The sun is always shining, the sky is always blue, it’s just that sometimes there are gray clouds in front of the blue sky. That said, not only will I do the work necessary for my art business and excitedly plan my Parelli marketing goals today, but, with great joy, I will also go let the dogs outside for the 97th time today, clean up my boyfriend’s mess, and once again partake in the sacred washing of dishes!

So for all of us with our boundless, absorbing hearts, I hope that we can all see a way to transcend the gray skies in our lives (in whatever forms they may take), remember that we are never broken, and raise ourselves like lanterns!… and SHINE.

Five Common Traits of Successful Artists

I wanted to share this article, because I think it’s important! I feel that this list clearly illustrates where I’ve gotten it wrong in the past and where I still need to grow. These days I am for sure an ARTIST with my full-time work being secondary. In my mind, it is simply one component in my career as a professional artist. This was an important shift I made; to stand in my power and state that I am an artist with full confidence. Having a full-time job does not make you less of an artist. I mistakenly used to feel that if I wasn’t making my entire living from my art sales, that I couldn’t consider myself a true artist. Nothing could be further from the truth.

As far as successful traits 2-4, I’m in pretty good shape, though I could greatly improve my time management skills. There is always room for improvement. I will say, successful trait number 5 really struck me. I don’t exactly spend time with negative people, but just as bad, I don’t spend time with any other artists. I never thought about this before, because it wasn’t exactly an option where I used to live (in the middle of nowhere, southern Iowa). Now I live in a city with a thriving art scene, and I should be so much more connected to other artists. I need to get involved. That is what I’m taking away from this list. I hope you take something valuable away from this list also. Enjoy!

I got this article from the following website:

http://www.finearttips.com/2010/07/5-common-traits-of-successful-artists/

“There is no formula for success, except perhaps an unconditional acceptance of life and what it brings.” -Arthur Rubenstein

STOP. Before you read this article…Close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths & imagine. Now let your mind find a memory of a time when you felt successful. Walk into that memory and experience it all over again. Use all of your senses: sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing, balance and acceleration, temperature, direction, pleasure, and your kinesthetic awareness. Open your eyes and remember that feeling. Come back to it before you do anything successfully.

If each one of you told me what you just experienced, there would be some common aspects and many differences. That is the great thing about having a successful career as a fine artist. You make it up, just like you make art from what your mind conceives. Here is a list of important traits all successful artists share…

5 Common Traits of Successful Artists:

1. Art is the core of their lives. These artists wake up and go to sleep thinking about art. They carve out time in their day making art or marketing it. (In fact, for these artists, there seems to be no clear distinction between the creativity of making and marketing.) If they have a full-time job, it is secondary in their minds to art and mostly a means to and end. Their  real job  is being an artist.
2. Successful artists understand how business works in the art world. Successful artists understand the entrepreneurial aspects of making a living as an artist. When they encounter something new or unusual on the business side, they investigate and learn to do it or delegate the task. They know the value of relationships and network in person and through social media.
3. Successful artists have a strong work ethic. They  manage themselves, their creative energy and resources. They balance the time to produce art and to market it. Whatever rhythm of working they choose, they stick to it. Whether these artists enjoy the business tasks or not, they know they must be done  and they do them without complaint or resentment.
4. Successful artists are resilient. They know that success does not happen overnight – it requires hard work. These artists understand that things don t always work out the way they expect. When they make mistakes, they focus on solutions, not on regrets. They  learn from experience and experiment to improve on any success they have.
5. Successful artists spend time only with people who are 100% supportive of their art career. They limit their time and emotional involvement with people who are negative   especially about art as a career choice. If people close to them have the skills and inclination to be more directly involved in their art career, the artist can produce more and better. Successful artists do not allow unsupportive people to be an obstacle to their plans for success.

The lesson: “Hang out with successful artists and study them.”

Artwork IS Work: Romantic Misconceptions of Professional Artists

One of the things I’ve discovered over the years, as I’ve attempted to start my own art business for the THIRD time now, is that being a professional artist is the most all-consuming, labor-intensive, and mentally/emotionally-taxing endeavor I have ever pursued. And I, like many, had a romanticized idea of what being a professional artist would be like. I think the third time is the charm in this case, because not only have I grown exponentially as a person, but I am now well versed in the reality of how much work it will take to make being a professional artist a reality. It’s going to be doubly challenging for me as I intend to hold down a full-time job AND continue my education in the fields of art and Graphic Design as I keep slowly building my art business. But in the midst of all the work, the creative projects I’m embarking on do feed my soul. I am driven to succeed no matter how difficult and defeating the journey can feel at times, because I am eternally driven to keep creating!

Painting means being prepared to get messy!

For my brother and sister artists and art lovers out there, here is some validation that artists are some of the hardest workers around! The following is an excerpt from http://www.finearttips.com/2013/01/mondays-motivation-artwork-is-work/ which has lots of  informational, encouraging, and inspirational stories for artists. If you are simply an art lover, there are so many things there for you also!

Many people idealize the profession of being an artist. They imagine the artistic lifestyle to be stress-free, romantic and fanciful.  For, how can creating artwork or a thing of beauty be considered work?

Yes, being an artist is a wonderful lifestyle, but it truly does take a lot of hard work. So, for Monday’s Motivation I thought I’d share a few reasons why artwork IS work…

• Artists are self-starters. We have learned how to carve out time each day for making our art. That time might be in the middle of the night, in between loads of laundry, during our baby’s nap-time, or after a full day at a 9 to 5 job.

• As working artists, we understand the entrepreneurial and business aspects of making a living as an artist. We must promote ourselves and our art, maintain positive relationships with galleries and collectors, we must keep our websites and blogs up-to-date, our portfolios and resumes current, and make time for social media and networking, while leave time for managing our income and paying the bills.

•  Artists must stay fit. Creating art is both a mental and physical activity. We stand on our feet for hours, lift heavy frames, and boxes, use dangerous tools and are aware of our surroundings.

•  We must take time to keep our studios organized and clean for a healthy working environment.

• Artists must stay focused. This is a skill, and motivation we have learned in order to stay inspired and in the ‘zone’ while the rest of our world tries to distract us.

• We must remember to unplug and recharge. In order to stay inspired and creative, it is important to make time for down-time with nature, family and supportive friends.

Things That Matter and Nate Berkus

Monday mornings I have developed a ritual of watching Super Soul Sunday on OWN (Oprah Winfrey’s Network, if you’re not familiar) because I record the episodes and go to church on Sunday mornings, when it airs. This particular new episode (I record and save them all, by the way) is an interview with Nate Berkus, because he’s got a new book out titled “Things That Matter”. I have long admired the work of designers in transforming spaces and making them beautiful, but oddly enough, I’ve never made my own spaces beautiful. Over the course of the interview Nate talked about how we’re taught that things aren’t important, that people are what matters most, and while that’s true, things still do matter. The things we see, the things we touch, they can hold memories or reflect things back to us that make our hearts sing. Tears began streaming down my face, because I suddenly realized that I have been waging a huge war inside myself for my entire life over his exact words. I have wanted to fully give myself to the creation of art, but I have always battled this resistance to valuing material things. Yet, I’m an artist. I love to make beautiful things and I love beautiful things, but I’ve always harbored a GREAT resistance to wanting and having beautiful things. The profundity of what he said was reverberating throughout my entire body. What seemed like such  a simplistic, honest, and even common sense statement just grabbed my soul and shook it vigorously. I think we all have those moments from time to time where something so simple and so true just smacks us hard into a deep state of realization, like a brick flying into our forehead, waking us up from a lifetime of sleep. This was one of those for me.

As the conversation continued, Nate talked to Oprah about the importance of great design and how it’s only great if it reflects the people who live there. He discussed the places Oprah has lived and how she really has been so busy that she’s never lived anywhere, never lived in a space that reflected her. She is working with a designer now on both de-cluttering her home, keeping only the things that matter, and also on designing a beautiful space that reflects her. At this point I burst into tears. I have NEVER lived in a space that was a reflection of who I am, because I have never allowed myself to have beautiful things or live in a beautiful space. Then I wept even more as I realized what an exact reflection that is of how I have always lived inside myself. The space we live in outside ourselves IS a reflection of the space we live in inside ourselves. I can look back at my entire journey through life, compare my external living quarters with my internal living quarters, and see a mirror image of myself in life as I was living it. I have always had a lot of amazing books, art materials, and art projects going on, but for the most part my living quarters, both in and out, has been a confusing and cluttered MESS. Isn’t that interesting?

Having nice things doesn’t mean having expensive things. It means recognizing the importance of what is beautiful in you and living in a space that is host to that beauty which feeds your soul. Right now, for example, my heart has been singing as I painted my black filing cabinets white, with a destroyed look, and I’m now almost finished with the desk as well. And I could feel, as I began, the great joy in doing this project, but also the resistance in myself to allowing myself to spend time working on something in my own home, because “things don’t matter”. Well, as A Course in Miracles states, “BEWARE the danger of an UNRECOGNIZED belief.” I’m an artist. Beautiful things and making things beautiful makes my heart sing. Why would it ever be unholy to make a living space a beautiful reflection of everything I love? What an insane idea that this isn’t OK. What a sick thought to think that things don’t matter at all. Nate said it best when he connected his internal, spiritual love with the design of his home, as well as connecting the internal, spiritual love of other people with the design of their homes. And there it is. The missing link for me. Things matter, great art matters, because it is an expression of the spirit. It’s OK to hold love and sentiment for the material, tangible things that make our hearts sing. Beauty in the material world is like a map back home to the beauty of the spiritual world. It’s a map back home. What a mind-blowing AH-HA moment. It’s like a massive weight I didn’t even know I was carrying has been lifted from my shoulders. I’ve desperately wanted to believe in art, all art, as something profoundly important. Now I can do so with every fiber of my being. Now I know why the importance of art that I’ve always felt, but never fully understood, is true. I’ve seen, recognized, and even spoken pieces of this truth over the course of my life, but today I got the great big picture understanding of why art is important and why it’s OK to love it. Now I feel free to wholeheartedly give myself to my work in creating art, because I can  wholeheartedly believe in its value and purpose.

It’s also interesting to think back over the years and remember how many people  wanted to visit my home after seeing some of my artwork, thinking that my home would be as creative and beautiful as some of the art I produced. Yet, this has always elicited panic in me, because my home has always been a messy hodge podge of areas in which I was creating stuff and things strewn about my home with no great thought at all. Also interesting, I have never placed a single piece of artwork that I have done on the  wall, EVER. So what does that say about me? I have trouble inviting people, and myself,  into my heart-space. My heart has always been mostly closed. Like… you can come this close to me and then I put my hand out or push you away. I sat in disbelief at this realization and thought, yeah. It’s really true. How openly have I loved? How raw and real have I loved?

Well, it’s no wonder I’ve attempted to start my own art business multiple times over the course of my life and have always struggled. If I withhold love from myself, I withhold it from the world and vice verse. If I withhold love from myself, I’m withholding it from my art, my business, and everything that I do is therefore inhibited. I realize now that much of the love I have given has been from a false sense of self. For example, as a waitress, I was very loving and caring to all of my customers, but I felt free to do so only while I was operating in that role. Not because of where I was vibrating within myself. I was playing the part of the loving, caring, bubbly, I’ve-got-myself-together person that I could portray at work, but wasn’t true at home. I want to be the loving, caring, bubbly,  I’ve-got-myself-together-person for real, not just in the roles I play in life. I want the loving core of who I am to shine through every single thing I do in my life. I want my home to reflect it, my relationship with my wonderful boyfriend to reflect it, my artwork to reflect it, and ultimately my career to reflect it. And I want to happily and heartily invite people into my home to see the beauty of who I am and the reflection of that in conjunction with the loving core and beauty of my relationship with my boyfriend. Our home will, from this point forward, be a reflection of who we are individually as well as together. And it will be creative and beautiful, because we are children of God. We were born creative, powerful spirits (as we all were) and I think it’s time to claim that birthright and begin dressing our physical surroundings in the material world version of what clothes our souls. Amen.