When Your Values Guide Your Creativity
“Our values are like a compass, guiding us toward what matters most.”
Have you ever noticed how some creative projects light you up from the inside, while others, though perhaps impressive to others, leave you feeling somehow disconnected? Often, this difference comes down to one thing: alignment with your core values.
When my husband and I were sailing up the east coast of Australia for three years on our boat, we relied on a compass to help us find our way. It was gratifying and fun to learn to navigate in that age-old fashion way.
Our values are like a compass, guiding us toward what matters most. Yet in our creative lives, we sometimes get so caught up in what we think we should create, or what others might appreciate, we can lose touch with this internal guidance system.
I've been reflecting on this again lately as I set up a new mini etching press at home. For my birthday a few weeks ago we went out to our local wetlands, and I had a ball photographing the birds with my telephoto lens. Standing on the back of our ute with Andrew, sharing those quiet moments of discovery and connection, I felt my core values of Adventure, Intimacy, and Creativity naturally weaving together. This past week, I've been turning those photographs into drypoint etchings. Each piece feels deeply meaningful because it emerges from what truly matters to me.
Here are a few photos of what I've been up to...
I think these pied stilts are adorable.
This one is actually Andrew's first ever dry-point etching - isn't he clever??? :) I love it.
Here's the brolga in it's natural habitat... I think I'll do another version of this with a slightly different composition so the bird is more pronounced.
Investing in our creativity - whether it's an etching press, art supplies, or time for creative practice - is really an investment in our values. When we honor what lights us up, our creative work (and our life) flows more authentically and joyfully.
Values might feel like abstract concepts, but they're actually not. They're deeply personal guides that can help us:
Choose which projects to pursue
Decide how to spend our creative time
Navigate artistic decisions
Stay true to our authentic voice
Create work that feels meaningful
This is exactly why I'm so excited to have created my latest offering, Creative Life Reset - to support others in discovering and nurturing their own authentic creative practice. I'm so excited about the intimate group that's already gathering for our journey together. There's something magical about working with a small group of Creative Hearts who are all committed to living more creatively.
If this calls to you, tomorrow (February 7th) is the last day to join us with the early bird bonus - an extra month in our Creative Hearts Community. Join now and you'll also be able to participate in our Virtual Creative Retreat this Saturday!
When we create from our values, the work has a different quality. It feels more aligned, more truthful, more deeply satisfying. Not because it's necessarily technically perfect, but because it's genuinely ours.
Today, I invite you to consider: What values are expressing themselves through your creative work? What happens when you create with conscious awareness of these values? What might change if you let your values guide your creative choices?
Be kind to yourself and nurture your creativity.
With my warmest wishes,
Nicola
P.S. Only a few spots remain in our intimate group of 15, and the early bird bonus ends tomorrow. I'd love to welcome you on this creative adventure! Feel free to email me with any questions - I'm here to help.
P.P.S. This was a fun watercolour sketch I did with a private retreat client last year on Magnetic Island. For me, combining art, the ocean, and heart-felt connection is a wonderful combination of my values of Creativity, Intimacy and Adventure.
How about you? What lights you up? How might your values inform your creative life?
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? :) Read more about my story here.
