This year I’ve come to appreciate the work of artists. Imagine a world without art. No paintings and no music, and no conversation or humour.

A bit dry, right?

Why is it then we don’t encourage those who want to create art? Why do we stop ourselves and others from creating?

Because we’ve been taught that it’s risky business to show the world who we truly are. We were taught to fear rejection by others.

As a result, we’ve developed an inner critic that tells us we are not good enough. Who are we to create art?

We are all human, that’s who we are.

We are all naturally creative. Our natural state is to create. When we stop ourselves from expressing ourselves, our well-being suffers. Bottling up our creativity leads to frustration with ourselves and with the world. Trust me, I know. I let the pressure build for way too long for fear of “what would others think if they knew how I truly feel about myself and the world?”

When I started to see my inner critic, my judgment of myself and others, I teamed up with those forces of envy, anger, hatred, and frustration. Accepting my darkness was the best thing for me to go forward with integrity as a whole human being.

An Artist

An artist is a seer, a healer, a communicator, and in short someone who appreciates the world around us and shows us what we may be missing out on in the busy-ness of our every day lives. An artist is someone who stops to smell the roses and inspires you to do the same. Stop now. Smell the next rose you see. You’re welcome.

These days I appreciate those who appreciate life. Artists like Ros Gervay help children of all ages – myself and my 6-year-old daughter, discover our visual communication style.

When I started to create, I started seeing colours and beauty around me. This year I’m focusing on yellow and seeing so much of it around me. Mangoes, bananas, pineapples, yolks from the eggs our backyard chooks lay, VW bugs and more…

Creativity is our ultimate gift to the world. Don’t let yourself get in the way of you sharing the gift of your self-expression. It is wanted and welcomed.

Gratitude

In a world where attention and care are scarce, I choose to value artists. They share their valuable attention and care with people like myself, who are maturing into the artists we were always meant to be.

Over to you…

How are you discovering the artist you were always meant to be? What are your random acts of creativity?