Focusing on the Wrong Things
On Monday, I posted an inspiring and thought-provoking interview with Georgina Noel. Georgina is a mindset coach with an uncanny intuition, a wicked sense of humour, and a really inspiring outlook on life. She had many wise things to say about creativity and the artist life. I don't always agree with everything she says but I always, always learn something when I speak to her.She is authentic, kind, wise, loving, and has a massive heart.She also swears a lot.Most people who watched the interview either didn't care about the cursing, or looked past it to learn what they needed to know. But some got hung up on the language and when they did that, they shut down and stopped listening.The thing is, how we are in one area of our life is how we are in all areas. So if you found the language offensive and therefore stopped listening, it might be worth asking where are there other areas of your life where you shut down if things don't fit with your established rules for how things should be? Are there other times that you have missed love or connection or wisdom because it came in a package that didn't meet with your approval?I think this is especially important for artists to consider, because I think we need to be as open as possible in order to connect to each other without judgment - I think that means we will be more receptive to all life has to offer, which ultimately results in stronger work.Does that mean we never get triggered? Of course not.For some it might be curse words. For others it might be the way someone speaks to us; backward baseball caps; a different political opinion; a supermarket queue; a "stupid" policy at work; a relationship not turning out as we would have liked; Taylor Swift songs; a joke that went wrong; a traffic jam; our favourite gallery showing work we think is rubbish; Donald Trump; Brexit; bad TV talent shows ... the list of things that can make us contract into ourselves and close down is endless. (Don't get me started on Radio 2 ruining the Simon Mayo show!!)But as artists I think our job is to do the opposite. Instead of contracting and pushing things away, I think our job is to expand and welcome things in. That does not mean that we like everything - it just means that we accept everything, and check to see what it has to offer.After all, it is what it is whether we like it or not. We do not control the universe (trust me I've tried). The only way we get to set the rules is to shut out anything that challenges our established way of thinking, thereby limiting our experience.I can't think of anything worse for an artist.Photo courtesy of Paurian via Flickr Creative CommonsIf you're not signed up to my newsletter, please do. I send original content every Sunday and it rocks!