Your Artistic Edge

Many years ago, I took a screenwriting class at Chicago Filmmakers and my teacher was Julia Cameron, the author of the Artists Way. She instructed our class (and everyone who subsequently read the book) to have an artistic date with themselves at least once a week. This exercise takes inspiration from Julia, yet helps you incorporate an artistic edge into your daily activities. Here are some suggestions:

• Date yourself. It doesn’t have to be to an art museum or a gallery. It can be as simple as going to Michaels to buy a new sketchpad or tie dye a faded tee-shirt. Take time to notice something artistic at least once a day. You don’t have to go anywhere to admire something that someone has created.

• Re-imagine the ordinary. Remember when we were kids and pretended the couch was an island and the carpet was the ocean or hot lava so we couldn’t step on the floor? Those were the days when the cushions were a pillow fort. Just for an instant, imagine that something ordinary is extraordinary… the leaves on the trees are dollar bills, or the sidewalk is really an ice rink, or the candy you just ate is good for you and not too calorie.

• Let your inner artist out. No one will care if you sing along with a song in your car or in the shower, imagining you’re on stage. You can do anything with an artistic edge, cooking, dancing (thanks Elaine), or even daydreaming. Decide to be an artist and take that inner artist with you everywhere.

I Spy with My Little Eye

Remember that game you used to play as a kid when you were unconscionably bored? This simple exercise takes inspiration from that. All you need to do to nourish your orange chakra is to find the color orange somewhere in your world and then ‘breathe’ in the color. Imagine that the color orange moves into your energy field through your lungs, then travels to your second chakra area (just below your navel, at your womb, if you have one). As you breathe in, imagine igniting your second chakra. As you breathe out, imagine the color getting brighter and the opening or ‘spinning’ gets more powerful.

The Inner Child Champion

We all have an inner child, an earlier version of ourselves who has morphed into the inner child energy that lives in our psyches today.  Our inner child is a compilation of the remnants of what we remember, what actually happened, what people told us happened, and how gullible or imaginative we are. This inner child has always been with you and will always be with you, so you’ll never be abandoned by her. That’s what makes her the perfect champion for your life.

Here’s a little creative visualization that helps me honor and nurture my inner child. Like many people, I had a trauma when I was a child. I was hit by a car when I was seven. Whether or not you had a trauma, you were a valiant, survivor of a child since you made it to the age you are now. Congratulations!

• Close your eyes and conjure yourself as a child. Then imagine that you’re visiting yourself at that age. Sit next to yourself. Play with yourself. Hug yourself.

• Then imagine that your child is visiting you, sort of like, ‘take your child to your life’ day. Feel the presence of wonder and awe from this child champion of yourself.

• We treat time as a linear experience, but let’s circle backward (and forward) with our former selves, we embrace all the wonder we once felt and then can give our previous selves the love we feel.

Always a deep thinker, even at six years old.

Rhythm and Resistance

Everyone wants to be ‘in sync’ with their lives. You know what I’m talking about, that sense of being in the rhythm of your own destiny, on your unique path forward. Here’s an easy exercise that I sometimes do when I’m feeling out-of-sync with my life.

• Turn on a song that you love to dance to and really feel it. Dance, if you want to, but let that rhythm sink into your core.

• Then resist it. Stop moving in sync with the rhythm and notice how that feels. I like to think of Elaine in Seinfeld when she did her little ‘off-beat’ dance. When you purposefully resist a rhythm that you love (from a song or from your life, metaphorically speaking), it’s awkward and almost painful not to be in sync.

• Then turn that song on again, even louder this time, and start dancing!

• Remind yourself that you’ll naturally find your life’s rhythm and have fun.

Become the Best Guesser

Being the best guesser is on a par with being the best kisser because they both leave a lasting impression, but being the best guesser differs because it’s also a survival tactic and the best way to combat what I like to call, Second Guessing Syndrome. You know what I’m talking about because we’ve all fallen into that vortex at some point and wondered, “What if I had….. blah, blah, blah.” Fill in the blank with the name of an old boyfriend, or a career path, or a trip, or an education, or the time you took the taxi uptown instead of downtown. You get the point. There are so many forks in the road that you can drive yourself crazy wondering “what if” all the time.

So how do you get to acceptance and ignore all those other options-not-taken so you can arrive at acceptance and open your creative flow to something new?

Here’s what works for me. I sometimes let myself roam into the ‘What If’ landscape just long enough to take a look. Then I notice if there’s anything that really speaks to me. It’s usually an old boyfriend. Whatever it is for you, snuggle up next to it for just a few moments, long enough to remember the path not taken and close enough to recognize what didn’t fit right the first time.

Then step back into your present life. Notice something new around you or get something to eat that you really love and taste it thoroughly or listen to a song that moves you. I like to listen to the song, ‘Tell ‘em I’m a Good Kisser’ by Lake Street Dive when I’m in this mood. Then I decide that I’m the best guesser about my own life. I still believe in intuition and fate, but I also know that so many of my decisions were guesses (educated or not).

There is no twelve-step program or elaborate treatment for Second Guessing Syndrome, so you just have to decide and tell yourself that you are the best guesser. Be determined in your conviction and set a timer so you don’t spend too long in the ‘What If’ landscape. Every time you second guess yourself, explore your own longings. The answer is usually inside your heart, not in the past with a missed opportunity.

You can tell yourself that you’re the best kisser too!

Painting by Wendy Walker Silverman at Tinney Contemporary, Nashville, TN

I AM

This mindfulness snack is really simple. All you have to do is just recite the words, “I am” as you breathe in and breathe out. You can even hold your breath for a few seconds to let the “I am” message sink in. Say this aloud or to yourself.

It’s tempting to fill in a word that describes you, but I encourage not to do that, at least not in this exercise. Focusing on those two little words (I AM) has great power, transcends labels and stereotypes, and enhances the flow of self acceptance, which is a gateway to your creativity. Just focus on just being you. Everyone else is already taken, so you might as well be the magnificent, original, and heartwarming YOU that you’ve become.

This sculpture was done by the late, great Bruce Peebles