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I have been receiving lots of positive feedback from my recent presentation as a part of the Underground Arts Initiative. I'm so glad that members of the Art Nurture community signed up to participate in this amazing event and were able to not only hang out for my presentation, but were also introduced to many whom I admire in the field as well! One of the main focuses of the Underground Art Initiative was gaining professional momentum with your creative work. What was truly unique about this event, was that it was chock full of some seriously amazing business savvy, but at the core of all of that was the necessity of authenticity in the work you are doing. Without authenticity, it doesn't matter how great you are at building a website or marketing or networking or whatever other business/work-type thing you do, your message will be unclear and it will not reach those with whom you want to work. It also doesn't matter how many creative ideas you have, if they are not truly authentic to you. Authenticity is clarity within yourself. Once you have clarity within yourself, you are able to share your true gifts with others, for work, for art, or (yes, it's possible) for both! I received a ton of emails in the last week about finding that clarity within from some trying to find their focus in their art, or their business , or their work life. First of all, I want to say that I am truly honored you would reach out to me and ask my thoughts on these matters. Thanks for your trust and support. Secondly, you all have really got me thinking! So here is what I have come up with... 4 Simple Steps to Finding Authenticity in your Creativity, Work, and Life 1) Get real with yourself about your values Authenticity comes when we are clear with ourselves and then we make choices based on that clarity. When we live and make choices in line with our deep values, we are able to find that authenticity. Most of us struggle at many different points in our lives with that clarity when we move out of alignment with our deeper values. When this happens we feel confused and foggy and we simple need to re-evaluate where we are at both internally and externally. What do I value when it comes to my creativity? (new ideas, adventure, self-expression, problem solving) What do I value with my work? (stability, freedom of time, freedom of place, making a difference & what does that mean to you) What do I value in my life? (relationships, feeling valued, a lovely home, social outings) 2) Get honest with yourself about how you want to feel How do I want to feel when I am in my "art"? How do I want to feel when I am at my "work"? So much of our life we think we are chasing results (being successful, being wealthy, being admired, being fit, etc.) but really we are chasing how those results or things will make us feel (happy, valuable, worthy, loved, free). When we are honest and authentic with ourselves about how we want to feel in our work, our lives, our creativity we can move into alignment with authentic choices. 3) Evaluate where you are at right now. Be gracious with yourself on this one, it is a necessary part of figuring out whether or not you are currently living in your authenticity. What am I doing now? Does it match up with my values? Does it make me feel the way I want to feel? Is this taking me where I want to be? Grace, grace, grace for this one. Just be honest, but don't use it to beat yourself up, ok?! It's called an Art Nurture Journey...yes, that's right, Journey, for a reason! 4) Envision where you want to go, who you want to be, and what you want it all to look like! What do I hope to gain from engaging in my "art"? (and it may be a different art or different hopes depending on your season of life) What do I want my life to look like? What do I imagine my contribution to the world to be? In what type of work/life situation would I be the healthiest and be giving my best? Take some time to write it all down. Dream and envision, but put it on paper as well, what your authentic life looks like. Most folks don't get their authentic dreams because the dream doesn't show up unless you do...authentically....so, get real and make it real by writing it down. A story about me, bumbling around, finding my authenticity... For me, for a long time, all I knew was that I wanted to make visual art and I wanted to help people in some way. The two seemed really divergent to me for a long time. It seemed that my desire to make visual art was sort of selfish. I thought I was spending all of this time working alone and it's not like my painting was going to solve world hunger, ya know?! But, over time, and through my own trials, experiments, confusions, etc. Art Nurture was born. It came through years of trying and failing and feeling a little lost. But then one day it hit me, I was actually helping people by being an artist. People's lives were enriched by seeing my work, even if I made it in solitude. And I have found a way to work with people all over the world through my writing and my message. I thought for a long time that my introversion was a detriment to my helping others, but I realize that it is not, that we each have our own unique sets of gifts & talents and that the world needs that diversity. That we need the introverts as much as we need the extroverts. We need all different kinds of people to feed and nurture the world in their unique ways. A story about folks living outside of their authenticity ... I know some folks who always said they wanted to travel the world and have adventures and that was their value, freedom of place. But the first thing they did was get a house and mortgage and a job they didn't really like and they felt a loss of a sense of themselves and they felt really listless. But it may be because their choices didn't line up with their core values. It wasn't authentic for them at the time. Perhaps downsizing and renting would have afforded them more freedom than home ownership. It's really all about what lines up with you. Trying different things and seeing how it shakes out. Focus also changes at different points in life. And sometimes, what was once our focus 5 years ago, is no longer. We have to re-evaluate and move forward from there. Re-evaluating our focus and our values and then making choices to be in alignment with those as we grow and change will help us stay in line with our authenticity. Want more on this? I have an upcoming opportunity to continue this conversation... Art Nurture presents The Poetics of Work Project Let's keep this momentum going! Join myself and poet, James Nave', for our very special workshop, The Poetics of Work Project. This live online workshop takes place Tuesday, March 3rd at 7pm and I would love for you to be in attendance. The Poetics of Work Project will prove to be an amazing experience, asking important questions and seeking simple & authentic approaches to getting it all (work, life, art, whatever!) done. For more information click here or go ahead and get your ticket to attend The Poetics of Work Project Online Workshop here! 
I want to hear what you think! Please join the conversation by sharing your thoughts in the comments below! If you are digging this Art Nurture goodness, feel free to join the newsletter to receive it directly in your inbox or share this post with someone you think will love it too! As always, keep nurturing and cultivating, Court 
12 Comments
Thanks so much, Donna. I find more and more in the work that I do, I am receiving deeper questions about authenticity and work and finding focus. That seems to be a pressing question for most of us. I am attempting to refine that and share how I have engaged in that process here. Thank you for stopping by Art Nurture :) If you take this post seriously then you'll know that it's really asking us to ask ourselves, "How do I define success?" and that's one of the most important questions we can ask ourselves. I have know many people who define success as how much money they make and how they make it isn't all that important. I truly feel sorry for those people. They live but are never truly alive. Wonderful post Court! So true, Silvia. My sister recently volunteered for an alumni sponsored event at our University. They alums were supposed to "interview" students for prospective jobs and give them feedback on how to work with that process effectively post grad. One of the students my sis interviewed, when she asked her what she was hoping for out of this "job" responded, "To make 80,000 right out of college". The student didn't understand that she had not shown her own value as an employee, her skills, her contributions, or that she even understood what the "job's" needs & challenges were. She had been told that you need to look for salary. But when salary is your only compass, you can end up very lost and often feeling like it is never enough. We have to delve deeper into our true values and authenticity to define "success" by our own standards, you are so correct on that one. That way, we have a compass that means something. 2/12/2014 09:50:19 am
This is by far one of the biggest challenges for most people, especially in business. And these tips are great for maintaining focus as we tend to veer off the path when we begin to stress or feel overwhelmed. Thank you x Beautifully said, Court. Wonderful tips and the questions you ask are so simple, yet so essential! It's often these "simple" questions that get overlooked and that's how we end op a little lost on our journey. Just reconnecting what matters most brings us back to where we want to be.
Court, Yes, Elise! I love the way you say "release the stories that we tell ourselves". It is amazing how strong those can be and how they can influence all of our decisions and our feelings about our decisions. Being vulnerable is such an integral part of the process and I hope that the more we engage in this conversation, the more the stigma is taken away from vulnerability :) I think that is the direction we are moving in, for sure, but we have to keep talking, acting, changing, and growing. 2/22/2014 07:56:34 am
All of your questions make wonderful journal prompts, Court! I totally resonate with the whole idea of living outside of your authencity...it's SO easy to get trapped in the 2.5 bedrooms, 2.5 garage, 2.5 kids, and 2.5 financing mindset (and I almost fell into that trap, too), not that it's a bad thing, but it's just not me - at least, not now - and in my eyes, life has all of that, plus SO much more to offer. xoxo Absolutely, Desiree, there is nothing wrong with any dream, goal, or ambition, unless it is not authentic for us to be choosing. It was funny to me to come to the realization that even though I went to art school, I realized how uncreative I was being with my view of what I could do with my art in the world. I realized my view and ideas were actually pretty narrow! How funny is that?! But once I started to expand my ideas of what was possible and become more authentic with myself, I realized I could have a life that was more a picture I actually wanted to live in : ) More creative solutions out there than I ever knew! Leave a Reply. |
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