How to Find Your Heart’s Reassuring Message for Your Creative Life
The Power of Intentions
An intention is like a north star. You can use it as an inner compass to guide you home, back to your centre and what’s truly meaningful and important to you.
Find Your Inner Compass
When we set out to create or paint, we sometimes feel blocks or fears, especially around beginning, and it’s helpful to find ways to surround ourselves with support. One of my favourite ways to find the courage to begin and continue on my creative journey is by putting up reminders around my home and in the studio about what my heart’s true intentions are. That way, if, and when, doubts pop up or life simply gets hectic, I have reminders of what my core desires are and remember to make time to honour myself and nurture my creativity.
Make a commitment to nurture yourself, and let’s brainstorm some fun, playful and creative ways on how to do that. Think of these as gentle reminders to support you along your creative journey
Transform Blocks Into A Sense Of Safety
Let’s start by giving ourselves permission to look at any fears and doubts square in the face. Then, we’ll transform them. For now, write down any obvious obstacles or blocks you feel when you consider getting started with painting or exploring something new. Use your journal if you like.
For example, “I’m afraid of wasting materials” or “I don’t want to look like a fool” or “I don’t know where to start.”
Now Let’s Find Your Heart’s Reassuring Message
Look through those blocks and consider how to turn them into a message from your heart that your mind needs to hear, so you feel free to move forward with a sense of safety. We’re looking to reframe those ideas or worries into positive, reaffirming messages and phrases.
Sometimes I like to imagine I’m mothering a little girl inside me who really just needs some reassurance that everything is ok and she is safe. I ask what she needs and then listen to what rises up from my heart. She’s sometimes shy, but I usually ‘hear’ something. Coming from this perspective helps me get in touch with my loving and gentle voice that’s naturally very comforting and nurturing. Try it if you like, ask yourself what you need to feel safe and record your discoveries in your journal.
For example, transforming blocks into messages of safety may sound like this:
“I’m abundant. There’s more where that came from.”
“Painting is nourishment for my soul. I love to paint in private.”
“I’m safe to begin exactly where I am.”
“Make a start. It doesn’t have to be perfect.”
“Remember to enjoy the process.”
“Be brave.”
“You are enough.”
Tune into your heart and write down what you need to hear to inspire you to take action and feel a sense of safety in your creative life. Feel free to use your journal if you like.
Now Let’s Look At The Big Picture
How do you want to feel during this process?
What is the most important part of the creative process for you?
Why is creativity & painting important to you?
Your Inner Compass
Distil your intentions into one to five phrases that really resonate with your heart. These are your gentle reminders and inner compass as we journey through this process together. Write, doodle or draw them out. You may also like to write them in your visual journal.
My Intentions & Gentle Reminders For My Creative Life
Make a commitment to nurture yourself and return back to those core desires as you go on your creative journey.
Now, here’s a lovely meditation you can use to hold your intention in your heart and give it more power and clarity in your life.
Heart Meditation
✴ Light a candle if you feel drawn to.
✴ Play music that soothes your soul and calms your nerves.
✴ Sit comfortably in a chair or on a cushion on the ground, and lengthen your spine towards the sky.
✴ Place your palms facing down on your legs for a more grounded experience, or palms facing up for a more receptive and open sensation.
✴ Relax your jaw, your shoulders, your belly, the space between your eyebrows and anywhere you feel the tension in your body.
✴ Close your eyes and take three deep breaths in and out. You may like to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth, making an ‘ahhhh’ sound as you breathe out.
✴ Bring your awareness down to your chest, and feel the space around your heart.
✴ As you sit tall and breathe, hold your intention inside your heart and see it in your mind’s eye.
✴ You may like to choose a colour you love and envision the words written in that colour. I love to envision them in a soft pink or turquoise, but choose whatever colour you love. This is a great way to infuse your intentions with clarity and settle them deep inside your centre.
✴ When you’re ready, release the control of your breath and your intention and simply observe your breathing and your thoughts.
✴ Watch your thoughts move through your mind as though they are clouds passing by. You may like to focus on a colour and pretend you’re painting every corner of your internal screen and peripheral vision with that colour. When thoughts come, just return your attention to painting with that pure colour.
✴ Thoughts will probably continue to drift in. As they do, observe them without judgement, but instead with curiosity, compassion and patience ~ remembering to come from a place of self-love. Bring your attention back to your chosen colour.
✴ Continue sitting mindfully for a few more minutes until you feel the process is complete, and notice how you feel at the end.
✴ Place your hands over your belly and heart. Honour yourself for taking the time to tune into your heart. Then pause for a moment to send gratitude and love inwards before gently opening your eyes.
This gentle Heart Meditation is a lovely way to nourish your soul and open the doors for your creativity to flow. You can return to this meditation any time you desire some stillness and centring as you go through your creative journey.
Be kind to yourself and nurture your creativity.
With my warmest wishes,
Nicola xx
About Nicola Newman
I'm a Creative Business Coach, Award-Winning Artist & Mentor for Creative Hearts who want to flourish, flow & prosper.
My passion is inspiring and supporting Creative Hearts to trust their inner wisdom and carve out a life that’s personally meaningful and fulfilling to them.
I share practical, evidence-based tools for Creative Hearts seeking to improve their lives or businesses. My work draws from acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), mindfulness-based techniques, body-based practices, and neuroscience -- and my own creative living adventures -- among other approaches.
My mission is to support Creative Hearts to:
Dissolve creative blocks, develop a loving relationship with themselves, nurture their creativity and reframe the beliefs and patterns that keep them from following their heart and making the creative contribution they would love to make in the world.
My approach is to embrace gentleness, playfulness and self-care to navigate self-doubt and instead cultivate deep self-trust so you can truly enjoy the creative process, bring together your body of work, make money doing what you love and leave a creative legacy you’re proud of.
Let’s pour a cuppa and get to know one another, shall we? :)
