“To become truly immortal, a work of art must escape all human limits; logic and common sense will only interfere. But once these barriers are broken, it will enter the realms of childhood vision, and dreams.” ___Giorgio De Chirico
Comfort zones are our own prisons. This is where stagnation is bred. It is either you transcend or remain transfixed to your comfort zone. As creatures of habit, humans are susceptible to resist change and yet change is imperative to growth. Sustained growth breeds exponential growth.
But where do we begin this journey of growth? Baby steps. Knowing yourself and becoming inquisitively interested in that which inspires who you are. Become interested and curious about life as you see it, and satisfy your curiosity by indulging more in its quest. This is “the greatest sources of happiness in life.” – LINUS PAULING. Read, research, engage, involve experience, practice and apply yourself routinely. Discomfort is where critical development decisions are made.
“No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently” ___ Agnes De Mille
During your curiosity journey, that’s where you identify, and discover gray areas that beckon your input; and that right there, is where you swing into action. Do not procrastinate about it. In her book, J.Cameron, advises us not to call procrastination laziness, but rather call it fear. She defines artistic abuse as an artist judging their own early artistic efforts.
Adventures begin when you step into the forest; and adventures are the cradle land for discovery, mystery, and imagination. Something transcendent happens when we indulge ourselves in our own adventures; something mystically creative, sets us apart from the ordinary into the extra ordinary. When we open ourselves to creativity, we open ourselves to opportunities. Opportunities only happen as accidents that favor a prepared mind. In your adventure, you discover niches, opportunities, which acted upon, are able to catapult your life’s achievements. In your adventure, you experience delights, fun and mystery. Mystery draws us in, it leads us on and lures us into enlightenment and motivation. There in, creativity is bred like an illumination from above. Not that you know where you are headed, but for every baby step you take, the next one is then illuminated; It’s an act of faith. And for every step you take of faith, change begins to gravitate like a roulette towards your success.
That said and done, doesn’t mean that you will not be met by an equal measure of drawbacks, setbacks, disparagement, masochism, and fallbacks, just like a recovering addict who falls back into immoderation. The more tougher choices you make towards growth, the more negative pressure you will face, both from within and from without. The choices you make are tantamount to deter and stifle your progress, your independence of thought and action or vice versa. Cameron even adds to say that “progress is an awkward, tentative and even an embarrassing process, So you should be willing to be a bad artist.” Not losing our vision and mission we should stride on, making the hard uncomfy choices that we have to make irregardless. Hard choices are like risk taking. There are risks you cannot afford to take, and there are risks that you cannot afford not to take.
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity” ___ Albert Einstein
Having taken a growth mindset, it is imperative to know that, for you to grow and for you to overcome negativity, a set of pillars needs to be raised. They are more self-explanatory, but I may take it up to expound.
First, quit self-reproach. Avoid self-loathing. No art is bad art and there are no errors nor mistakes in art. Nonetheless, in art “Do not fear mistakes – there are a non” says DAVIS MILES. Self-hating, can beat you back into the shadows as an artist. If you find yourself in such a situation, begin affirming yourself for affirmations are like prescriptions, able to improve on the dire aspects of your life.
“I shall become a master in this art only after a great deal of practice”
___ Erich Fromm
Additionally, bring others on board in your journey of growth and achievement. Grow together and ensure that your journey is believable and that you trust yourself enough for them to join in. Learn to embrace criticism as feedback for opportunity and growth. Sustained and exponential growth is what you aim for. Nonetheless, be sure to inquisitively examine and sift good criticism from wet-blanket commentary and prognosis.
“Trust in yourself, your perceptions are far more accurate than you are willing to believe.”
___ Claudia Black
Finally, building a support network of individuals, enables ideas to stay on course. This should be persons with your agenda and purpose at heart, whom you can always depend upon along the way. Growth is an erratic forward movement; today you are motivated, inspired and enthusiastic, but tomorrow sluggish, bored and uninteresting. But all in all, keep at it, keep the faith, and have your hook always cast, for in good time an accident will happen. Translated from my own craft the words of one Amos Ferguson, “I sculpt not by sight but by faith. Faith gives you sight”
“I shut my eyes in order to see” ___Paul Gaugin (French artist.)
Edit by Kimiti Kamande
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