Day 6

Three Life-changing Creative Living Lessons

Hello Creative Heart! 

Welcome to Day Six of The Art of Creative Living: 7 Day Introductory Course.

We’ve taken small steps through each of the three phases of my approach: Creative Renewal, Creative Practices and Creative Maps. The ideas and processes I’ve shared with you form the basic fundamentals of ‘what’ I teach — an introduction to my approach to nurturing your creativity, following your heart and being kind to yourself.

Today, I want to share ‘how’ I love to frame these practices. These are lessons I’ve gleaned over the 10+ years I’ve taught painting and creativity, and from my own experience as a professional artist and creative entrepreneur over the past eighteen years (gosh, I don’t feel old enough to say that, but apparently when I do the maths, I am! :))

Apply these the next time you have a Creative Date, but my guess is you won’t want to stop there…

#1. Give Yourself a Sense of Safety & Support

When you want to embark on something new, whether it’s a new painting, launching a new product, or sailing up the east coast of Australia, focus on giving yourself a sense of safety and support. From that place, you will find you can be brave.

When we approach our new venture with a desire and willingness to give ourselves a sense of safety and surround ourselves with support, we are in fact giving ourselves the best chance of success.

The creative process, like most things in life that are worthwhile, is full of unknowns.

There are no guarantees things will turn out as we hope, which can stop us before we’ve even begun. But the flip side is, if we don’t take the first step, we have sealed our fate already. We remove the possibility of experiencing the things we want to experience. Whether that’s a state of ‘flow’ where time dissolves as you paint, or building a solid trust in your intuition and inner wisdom, or visiting deserted islands and spotting dolphins as you sail the coast!

We are capable of so much more than what our thoughts say.

Finding the courage to begin, in my experience, doesn’t come from tough-love or being hard on yourself. It’s through befriending yourself and carving out space to listen to your fears. That way, you can discover what will specifically support you and help you feel safe, in this moment. When we are in relationship with ourselves in this way, the whole world opens up to us.

Creative expression becomes a fun, playful exploration. Painting isn’t scary. Even criticism loses its power when we are in loving connection with ourselves and our intentions.

Asking, “How can I feel safe, here? What would support look and feel like for me, right now? How can I give those things to myself with the resources I have available?” allows us to be brave and courageous in the midst of fear.

This is true in every area of life, I’m sure of it. Including our creative expression.

Expressing yourself is vulnerable, at times triggering work that grows richer and richer the more attention we give to it. It takes a long time to develop our skills, unravel old stories, integrate our discoveries and build a deeper intimacy with ourselves. Which is why I’ve developed this work into a year-long program (and given students access to the materials for years to come). This isn’t a quick fix experience.

So let’s be gentle with ourselves. Honour our needs. Trust our timing. The willingness to discover what gives you a sense of safety and helps you feel supported is priceless.

You’ll find the keys to bravery and courage await, nestled inside your own heart.

#2. Cultivate Your Playfulness

I’m constantly saying, “Let’s have a play…” during the painting dates inside my global year-long program. I don’t say this simply because it’s more fun when we play (it is!) but because playfulness is the best antidote for perfectionism, resistance and procrastination. When we try something new with a sense of playfulness, we take the pressure off ourselves having to be perfect.

Playfulness allows room for exploration. And exploration is where true learning happens. Not only in reading about, thinking about or watching others create. But in actually playing with the process ourselves.

Is it time to let go of your fear of failure? The best way I’ve discovered to do that, is by cultivating a sense of playfulness. At the very least, bring a sense of playfulness to your next Creative Date. My guess is, you’ll reap the rewards of being more playful in many other areas of your life, too.

#3. Take Time to Recognise, Appreciate & Celebrate!

In the rush to create more, improve ourselves and tick off our to-do list, we can lose sight of what makes life nourishing and joyful, right now.

I’m continually encouraging my community to take small steps, and then celebrate them! Did you pick up your paintbrush for the first time in ages? Acknowledge yourself! Edit another chapter of your book? Recognise your achievement (dark chocolate, anyone?) Share your latest creation with the world? Appreciate yourself and celebrate your courage!

When we embark on any kind of personal transformation, it’s so easy to always focus on what is ‘hard,’ what we are ‘lacking’ or what we want to improve. After all, there are always more skills to develop, layers to uncover, and projects to explore.

However, recognising, appreciating and celebrating the steps we have already taken is hugely important. It motivates us to keep going, and it makes life that much sweeter along the way, too. Life is made up of moments. We can choose to intentionally infuse more beauty, meaning, gentleness and playfulness into our days by pausing to celebrate all our small steps.

How you approach expressing your creativity can become your new approach to life. How about choosing a path of gentleness, playfulness, un-shaming and radical self-compassion?

With my warmest wishes,

Nicola xx

P.S. Our next session is the last one! Keep an eye out for the final session of this introductory course tomorrow. I’ll be sharing my creative living story, along with some fun ways to connect with me