Exploring Contradictions

There seem to be two schools of thought: one is the prevalent one, winners never quit and also the binary version which says we should know when to call it a day and quit before we invest any further time/money/energy into whatever venture we are partaking in.  The most important question that can arise for a creative is whether they should quit the whole idea of pursuing their art in the first place or if they have started and it is not panning out the way that they had hoped, whether to call it quits and admit it didn’t work out and it was worth the try but you don’t feel inclined to lend it any more of your time and energy. What if what is actually needed is a break without a time restriction on it? https://www.youtube.com/@illustratingrain https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thespiritofcreating https://www.instagram.com/illustrating_rain https://www.facebook.com/illustrating.rain/

As If.  What are you using your imagination for? Are you using it to worry or assume the worst about yourself or are you spending time imagining the outcomes that you would want, the ways you want to be. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are conjuring up images of ourselves and our worlds constantly and so there comes a time when we learn to better utilise the gifts of our imagination. In the final episode of Uncovering Your Creative Confidence we take a look at how we can better use our imaginations for our creative goals.  Don’t forget you can download the free digital journal to follow along or complete in your own time.  You can listen to the full episode over on Youtube or on Spotify/Apple Podcasts https://mailchi.mp/01cebd87f00f/ucc https://www.youtube.com/@illustratingrain https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thespiritofcreating https://www.instagram.com/illustrating_rain https://www.facebook.com/illustrating.rain/

We walk around with quite a lot of assumptions. We have these nice, sanitised ideas of how things should look, how they should be and when they don’t show up how we imagined, we feel like we have failed, or something has gone wrong when the only thing that was wrong was our assumption.  You can listen to the full episode over on Youtube or on Spotify/Apple Podcasts Don’t forget you can download the free digital journal to follow along or complete in your own time.  https://mailchi.mp/01cebd87f00f/ucc https://www.youtube.com/@illustratingrain https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thespiritofcreating https://www.instagram.com/illustrating_rain https://www.facebook.com/illustrating.rain/

Choose Again If you have found that up until now you have not felt confident in the way that you have wanted to, then always know you can choose again.  It is not a conscious act when ideas and beliefs that erode self-confidence appear. We are not aware of the exact moment we had a thought that something about us or our art was not good enough and decided to believe it and leave it to grow, unquestioned over the years.  Don’t forget you can download the free digital journal to follow along or complete in your own time.  You can listen to the full episode over on Youtube or on Spotify/Apple Podcasts https://mailchi.mp/01cebd87f00f/ucc https://www.youtube.com/@illustratingrain https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thespiritofcreating https://www.instagram.com/illustrating_rain https://www.facebook.com/illustrating.rain/

Quit Using Negative Motivation Motivation is seen as a positive word and something we all want. To feel motivated to do what we are wanting to do. But as adults, we could have cultivated a habit of using a negative form of motivation to move us. It still causes us to act, but it does so from a place of fear and not being good enough.  You can listen to the full episode over on Youtube or on Spotify/Apple Podcasts Don’t forget you can download the free digital journal to follow along or complete in your own time.  https://mailchi.mp/01cebd87f00f/ucc https://www.youtube.com/@illustratingrain https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thespiritofcreating https://www.instagram.com/illustrating_rain https://www.facebook.com/illustrating.rain/

What do you think of yourself? What do you think about what you create in terms of your art? How do you talk to yourself?  I am going to bet that some of the things that you think about yourself, and your creativity are not very positive. There is a distinction between being aware of our flaws and being dictated by them and seeing them as a focal point.  When we perceive ourselves from a negative viewpoint, then we create a list of things about ourselves that we need to fix. And fixing anything takes time and energy. The same time and energy that could be better utilised elsewhere.  Don’t forget you can download the free digital journal to follow along or complete in your own time.  You can listen to the full episode over on Youtube or on Spotify/Apple Podcasts https://mailchi.mp/01cebd87f00f/ucc https://www.youtube.com/@illustratingrain https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thespiritofcreating https://www.instagram.com/illustrating_rain https://www.facebook.com/illustrating.rain/

Do you know where your confidence comes from? Most people assume it is out there. And we have it put into us, by our teachers, parents, siblings, peers. Or by the things that we have achieved in our lives and what others have said about us.  We use these measures, as confidence tokens that we slot into ourselves and that seems to build up our confidence. And we can also look at the things we do which we perceive we have done well and therefore we allow ourselves the permission to feel confident in that area.  Don’t forget you can download the free digital journal to follow along or complete in your own time.  https://mailchi.mp/01cebd87f00f/ucc https://www.youtube.com/@illustratingrain https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thespiritofcreating https://www.instagram.com/illustrating_rain https://www.facebook.com/illustrating.rain/

Do you know where your creative confidence comes from? Welcome to a 6 part series on uncovering your creative confidence; we will take a look at where it can be found, how to recover it, if you feel its lacking and each podcast episode will end with some journal prompts to enable you to actively engage and see that you are both the seeker of the question and also the person that can provide yourself with a solution.  The series has a digital journal so that you can follow along with each episode or go through it in your own time. It is free and can be downloaded with the link provided below. If you would prefer me to just send you a direct link to it, just dm on Instagram and  I will send it to you. Sign up below:- https://mailchi.mp/01cebd87f00f/ucc https://www.youtube.com/@illustratingrain https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thespiritofcreating https://www.instagram.com/illustrating_rain https://www.facebook.com/illustrating.rain/ www.illustratingrain.com

Do you have dreams that are precious to you and that you keep and hoard and do nothing about because you are scared of ruining them. You’re scared of denting them or scratching them. What if those dreams want to be born and you are free to scratch, dent or break them and it is all still ok? That they are resilient enough to take their place in the world however they end up appearing and you are free to enjoy them, let them go and create more dreams.  https://www.youtube.com/@illustratingrain https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thespiritofcreating https://www.instagram.com/illustrating_rain https://www.facebook.com/illustrating.rain/ www.illustratingrain.com

When it comes to creativity, we think we need to be in the realms of the extraordinary, but the very nature of the word implies, it only happens occasionally; that it is unusual. Yet, we live our lives in a daily basis in the ordinary moments. They make up the majority of our time and this is where we should be directing our creative attention because this is where our artistic process has a chance to evolve and thrive.  https://www.youtube.com/@illustratingrain https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thespiritofcreating https://www.instagram.com/illustrating_rain https://www.facebook.com/illustrating.rain/ www.illustratingrain.com