Fearless Creating

1. Nurture Your Wish to Create: Embrace the Wild and Tame Within

"Hushing is what we do when we go into a museum and sit in front of one painting for fifteen minutes."

Embrace hushing. This practice of quieting your mind is fundamental to nurturing your creative wish. It allows ideas to connect and germinate, opening you to the wildness of creativity while maintaining a necessary tameness to function in the world.

Balance wildness and tameness. Wildness fuels your passion, originality, and non-conformity, while tameness provides the discipline and focus needed to bring your creations to fruition. Recognize both aspects within yourself:

• Wild faces: Energy, trickster qualities, drama, rage, rebellion
• Tame faces: Inner governance, balance, moderation, reality-testing

Cultivate practices that support both sides, such as meditation for tameness and free-writing or improvisation for wildness. Remember, the goal is not to eliminate anxiety but to channel it productively into your creative work.

2. Choose Your Next Subject Wisely: Balancing Passion and Practicality

"To choose deeply means letting in the possibility of tackling large themes, difficult concepts, noncommercial projects."

Embrace deep choosing. When selecting your next creative project, consider both your passionate interests and practical realities. This process involves navigating confused-mind anxiety, where uncertainty about the right choice can be paralyzing.

Strategies for effective choosing:

• Work underneath: Allow ideas to percolate in your subconscious
• Honor snapshots: Pay attention to moments that spark inspiration
• Imaginatively analyze: Ask big questions about your art discipline
• Live a tradition: Connect with the lineage of your craft
• Visit your collected works: Draw inspiration from your past creations

Balance difficult ideas that challenge you artistically with more accessible concepts that might have better market appeal. Remember, the goal is to create work that is both meaningful to you and potentially impactful for your audience.

3. Start with Belligerent Commitment: Overcoming Weakened-Mind Anxiety

"Starting separates the artist from the would-be artist."

Commit fiercely. Starting is often the most challenging part of the creative process, marked by weakened-mind anxiety that can manifest as fatigue, emptiness, or depression. Overcoming this requires a belligerent commitment to your work.

Strategies for starting:

• Learn to say "no" to distractions and "yes" to your work
• Cultivate active aloneness, embracing the solitude of creation
• Recognize the most important split second: the moment you decide to work
• Prepare for the most important short walk: the journey to your workspace
• Master the first few minutes of work, entering the creative trance

Develop a routine that supports your creative process, making starting a habit rather than a daily struggle. Remember, every great work of art began with a single moment of commitment.

4. Work Through Chaos: Embrace the Strange Thing from the Sea

"A new sculpture is like a strange thing fought from the sea."

Navigate creative chaos. The working stage is characterized by chaotic-mind anxiety, where the struggle between your original vision and the emerging work can be disorienting. Embrace this chaos as a necessary part of the creative process.

Key aspects of working:

• Balancing trance moments with appraisal moments
• Wrestling with the "strange thing from the sea" - your evolving creation
• Making choices while in the trance of working
• Dealing with mistakes and revisions as part of the process

Develop strategies to maintain focus amidst the chaos, such as breaking your work into manageable increments, setting small goals, and regularly reconnecting with your original inspiration. Remember, chaos is often the birthplace of your most innovative ideas.

5. Complete Your Work: Navigate Critical-Mind Anxiety

"To rewrite ten times is not unusual."

Embrace completion. Finishing a work of art involves navigating critical-mind anxiety, where self-doubt and perfectionism can hinder progress. Recognize that completion is a series of successive events rather than a single, definitive moment.

Strategies for completion:

• Develop clear criteria for what constitutes "finished" work
• Practice appropriate judging, balancing critique with self-compassion
• Engage in revision as a necessary part of the completion process
• Learn to detach from your work, preparing it for the world

Remember that completion doesn't mean perfection. It means bringing your work to a state where it effectively communicates your artistic vision and is ready to be shared with others.

6. Show Your Work: Develop Courage and Manage Shy-Mind Anxiety

"Showing is an action. Showing is saying out loud, 'I'd like you to take a look at this.'"

Show courageously. Sharing your work involves managing shy-mind anxiety, where fear of judgment can lead to avoidance or impulsive showing. Develop a strategic approach to presenting your art to others.

Elements of a showing plan:

• Judging when to show: Consider the work's stage and your goals
• Determining what outcomes mean: Clarify your expectations
• Choosing an audience: Select viewers who can provide valuable feedback
• Completing work for showing: Prepare your piece for presentation
• Learning how to show: Develop skills in presenting your work effectively

Practice introducing your work confidently, and prepare yourself for various responses. Remember, showing your work is an essential step in your growth as an artist and in building connections with your audience.

7. Sell Your Art: Balance Artistic Integrity with Market Realities

"Selling is hardly a bloodless, unemotional undertaking. It shakes one's nerves and engenders powerful feelings."

Sell strategically. Selling your art involves navigating the tension between artistic integrity and market demands. Recognize that creating saleable things doesn't necessarily mean compromising your vision, but rather finding ways to connect your unique voice with an audience.

Considerations for selling:

• Develop a sales manifesto tailored to your art and goals
• Understand your target market and potential buyers
• Create compelling descriptions of your work for various contexts
• Prepare yourself emotionally for the selling process
• Balance commercial viability with artistic authenticity

Remember that selling is a skill that can be learned and improved over time. Approach it as another aspect of your artistic practice, one that allows your work to reach and impact a wider audience.

8. Master Anxiety Management: Essential Techniques for Creators

"It is more often an inability to deal with anxiety than a lack of talent or imagination that derails artists and would-be artists."

Cultivate anxiety management. Developing effective strategies to handle the various anxieties associated with the creative process is crucial for sustained artistic practice and growth.

Key anxiety management techniques:

• Breathing exercises: Practice controlled breathing to calm your mind
• Relaxation techniques: Learn progressive muscle relaxation or self-massage
• Meditative practices: Use mantras or mindfulness to focus your thoughts
• Guided visualizations: Create mental safe spaces for creative work
• Affirmations: Develop positive self-talk to counter negative thoughts
• Cognitive techniques: Practice thought blocking or substitution

Experiment with different techniques to find what works best for you in various creative situations. Remember, managing anxiety is an ongoing practice that supports your entire creative journey, from nurturing your initial wish to create through to selling your finished work.

Last updated: October 23, 2024