“Courage is your natural setting. You do not need to become courageous, but rather peel back the layers of self-protective, limiting beliefs that keep you small.”
― Vironika Tugaleva

I found this quote immediately after two events that got me thinking.

The first was a conversation with an artist who has amazing potential - just oceans of it! She has created amazing things and has the ability to create even more. But as we talked I realised all the ways in which her beliefs held her back. I could see all of her vast potential clear as day - but she couldn't yet access it because of these longstanding limiting beliefs. 

It reminded me so much of myself just a few years ago. Weighted down by financial concerns, I was convinced I couldn't make a career as an artist. I didn't have the time and there were bills to pay. In fact, I got really annoyed with a mentor contradicted my worldview. She insisted that it was not only possible, but actually it was inevitable if I just got out of my own way. I told her she was bonkers, and that it must be nice to live in a dream world.

But she was right. When I shifted my beliefs my situation soon changed. When I stopped focusing on "I can't because..." I started to see how I could. 

Now I see it all the time in others. My artist friend is keen to shift her beliefs, but I often meet people who just don't want to do that. They are so keen to tell me why this or that is not possible for them. Even when solutions are suggested, they say they tried once and it didn't work, or offer elaborate justifications why it's just can't be done. They actively argue for their stuckness!

Another common problem for some artists is placing all the focus on the negative. Maybe they took a course and only did half of the assignments. As soon as the course draws to a close, they start beating themselves up for what they didn't do.

This was the second thing that got me thinking - I saw several posts like that at the end of my most recent course. But these students had made some wonderful art. Wouldn't it be better - and more enjoyable - to celebrate the assignments they had completed and the progress they had made?

Or they fixate on what they can't yet do. Maybe they want to paint faces and haven't yet cracked it. Or maybe they'd lie to create abstracts but don't know enough about composition. Instead of eagerly embracing the challenge of learning, they throw up their hands and give up. 

It takes a lot of energy to be this negative. It takes a lot of energy to argue for your limitations and resist positive suggestions. And it takes a lot of mental energy to beat yourself up for all you didn't do or haven't learned. 

Imagine what might happen if we just stopped all that - imagine what might happen if we freed up all that energy?

I don't have to imagine it. I know.

I have a life that seemed inconceivable to me a few years ago. I teach and paint for a living and ironically that has significantly improved the financial pressures that I used to use as an excuse. And the shift was rapid. It started as soon as I stopped saying "I can't...." and "no-one will..." and "that won't work because...." 

Here's an example .... I distinctly remember having a drink with a friend in Spring of 2018. I was talking about taking a painting class and she asked me why I didn't teach art classes myself. I laughed and patiently explained why that wasn't possible. "I don't know enough," I said. "I have nothing to teach and anyway I'm no good at teaching."

A few months later, I met my mentor, began to shift my beliefs, had a flash of inspiration, and launched the first iteration of my annual course "Find Your Joy." I didn't charge much and I only taught a small group, but they told me the course had really helped them and they told me I could teach.

That was enough to launch me on an amazing journey. Since that first iteration, over 40,000 people have taken my free taster course. That's more than 40,000 people who have proved me wrong!

Just think, all that potential was inside me even though I didn't believe it. But because I didn't believe it, I couldn't fulfil it. That only happened when I stopped insisting on how impossible things were.

So what about you? Where are you holding yourself back? How much extra energy could you release if you stopped arguing for your limitations and instead embraced possibility?