There is no one else like you, especially when it comes to
what you create from your own being.
Whether you are a creative problem-solver on the job or a
visually talented spatial reasoning super organizer at home, or a creative
planning type creating great holiday gatherings and vacations - creativity is
born each day from your mind and put into action.
If you are an artistic type who takes creativity to different
dimension applying it to the fine or applied arts, you are one-of-a-kind in how
you dream up a dance, song, painting, sculpture, recipe, or manuscript. Your thoughts and ideas are birthed from your
expression and voice to share with the world.
Regardless of HOW you express your creative self, whether
you are self-realized or not, you do something (sometimes without even knowing)
which is artistic expression just by being you when you do it.
From a signature style you have just by getting dressed to how
you choose to multi-task your entire life and calendar – you have your very own
creative and unique way of living your life and doing what it is you do.
So the big question of the day is WHY does everyone want you
to be like everyone else?
Is it so they don’t feel like an outcast themselves?
Is it because they don’t understand you?
Are they jealous or intimidated by your own personal flair?
Or is it merely that they cannot allow their own ego to
admit they cannot compete so they want you to be mediocre?
These questions have plagued many creative people who consciously
choose their CREATIVE LINK in their daily lives.
Comparisons are always made when creativity leaves your
imagination and are on display for everyone to see – even if what you do for a
living is slightly different from anyone else in the way that you do it.
Sometimes artists hear these questions day in and day out –
whether it is on social media or in person or by a critic in the media. Sometimes it is a fan or worse… a family
member or friend.
Everyone is a critic. Invite someone into your home and
later hear judgment about what you hung on your wall, colors you chose, or how
you took a traditional space and made it all your own.
These questions even exist when the artist is not around but
their painting, sculpture, music, (fill in the blank with any creative work) is
on display.
While all creativity and beauty within art is in the eye of
the beholder or is ‘subjective’ – we must begin to pay attention to the fact
that critiquing can be destructive, particularly when the work itself is
repelled with the comment “Why can’t you paint more like Michelangelo?” Or “Why
can’t you sing like Pavarotti?” Or why can’t your place look like it could be
on HGTV?
The truth is EVERYONE is actually an original, because there
is truly only ONE person who can be said person and what comes from your heart
and mind IS YOURS.
Even an actor who is super skilled at portraying a real live
person, they can be closely authentic in their portrayal, but they are still at
the end of the day, NOT THAT PERSON, so critiquing said art attempt is futile,
even if it is their own artistic interpretation.
YOU ARE YOU. There is
no one like you. You can be the very
best YOU and THAT is enough.
So why do people ‘compare?’
What is the obsession with comparison?
Comparing is truly like comparing apples to oranges. An apple can never be an orange and
vice-versa. So why do we do this with
people, professions, titles and continue to group, label and identify this way?
THE BIGGER QUESTION:
Doesn’t’ comparison paralyze some people from even attempting to create
at all???
Imagine yourself in Kindergarten coloring with your Crayolas
and all the kids in your class are supposed to draw a Mother’s Day card. Side-by-side each person is creating
something they believe their own mother would like. It is personalized… it is specifically for
her. These creations are not judged
because of the destination of said creation.
Mom will love it because it is made with love for the intent of her eyes
and her heart. No one is judging,
critiquing or laughing.
Now imagine today as an adult, you and all your fellow
employees in your department at work are asked to do an oil painting. Your paintings are going to be on display at
a gallery (on behalf of the company) for some charity auction. On the event day you are standing there with
your glass of wine walking around looking at all the other paintings and
overhear someone critiquing your painting.
They say “Ah, too bad this painting can’t be more like _______”
How does that make you feel?
If you are LINKED to your own individuality and your own
creativity LINK within, you can see many different things.
From a healthy place you can see:
- The beholder is NOT getting the fact you are YOU and that your painting isn’t like anyone else’s and can’t appreciate it for what it is.
- The beholder could be judging your art in comparison only to their own “very limited” exposure to art or personal taste.
- The beholder has no compassion chip to understand that everyone contributed and did their best for charity… this is not an art show, there is no real place for judgment here - it is a fundraiser.
- The beholder does not understand that art is an expression and an extension of a human’s vision, creativity, soul, or voice and cannot appreciate and celebrate their uniqueness.
And so forth.
From an unhealthy place, you may feel the person making the
comment is simply a jerk or other expletive – and that’s a normal human
reaction, however it need not rule your creative artistry!
Read that again… IT NEED NOT RULE YOUR CREATIVE ARTISTRY!
If we come to terms that all that we do, all that we create,
all that we envision, brainstorm, or express outwardly through OUR CREATIVE
LINK is OUR OWN, we will understand that comparisons really have no value
whatsoever.
Removing our ego attachment, is not always easy to do but if you accept and embrace your own creativity, you are living by example of being comfortable in your own skin to self-express who you are, AS YOU EXPRESS IT.
If we operate from a place of no ego, we don’t place value
within other critiques, judgment or opinions or see them as an attack, because
we are looking at our own individuality and creativity from our sacred space of
being an artist.
Art is meant to be just that – art. Creativity is individual. EVERYONE (yes, everyone) has a gift in this
area unique to WHO THEY ARE.
Even if you repeatedly say, "Oh, but I am not very creative," you are denying what creativity exists and lies within you and take for granted HOW YOU EXPRESS YOURSELF DAILY, without even realizing it. In turn, you are creating a negative energy that denies seeing the creative individuality and artistry within others from the way they walk, talk, show up, or live their lives.
IT ALL STARTS WITH EACH OF US FIRST.
Whether you’re building a birdhouse or making a pie or
bedazzling your patio chairs – there is creativity which can flow from you in
almost anything you do. Even if your 'signature' is just wearing a hat because you like it or lining up pictures on your wall or plants around your work station like no one else does quite like you... we have to embrace even the simplest of ways we choose to express our uniqueness in order to honor another person's, too.
Your creations
are yours alone and they are an extension of who you are and what you
make.
Whether you are making something for someone from your heart
– like a Mother’s Day card from your childhood, or as an adult for a home
project, charity item, or even just a DIY for a neighbor or friend – if we
allow ourselves to embrace our own CREATIVE LINK, and stop allowing the
negativity to stop our creative flow – the world can be a better place.
While we may not be able to stop all the negative critics
out there, we can stop OUR OWN negative voices – both those in our own minds
and our lethal words we may accidentally let slip about someone else’s
creations.
THIS is what we CAN CONTROl… so let’s start supporting one
another by appreciating that photograph taken, song, drawing, topiary garden,
that skateboard design, that freestyle dance move or handmade tamale or wooden
clock.
Creativity has many forms and it comes from many hands –
let’s start celebrating the creativity link within one another and we’ll soon
begin honoring it within ourselves.
Namaste.
