Make Your Art No Matter What: Moving Beyond Creative Hurdles

Going to social media to counter isolation is like sitting in a bath when you’re thirsty.

You are in relationship with your audience, even if you never meet them.

This, to me, is the essence of a spiritual practice—deep connection to one’s self and something outside of one’s self, and the specific methods that make this connection possible.

A helpful exercise I develop with artists is the practice of noticing their first thought in response to a situation or stimuli. I ask them to speak the initial thought out loud in order to clearly identify it. Next, they respond to the first thought consciously and carefully. Often, the second thought refutes, questions, or soothes the first thoug

Putting the burden of income on your art practice will create a pressure and expectation that can lead to resentment and abandonment.

If we want something new or different, we have to take action in that direction. Understanding and knowing ourselves, our thoughts and feelings, is just the first part—but we cannot stop there. Behavior is what leads to behavior change. We have to take action.

The tricky business is learning to identify, feel, and trust our range of emotions without succumbing to each one.

I can change my attitude about how I spend my days, and I can change the content of my days.

Many of us who have deep misgivings about capitalism also love money or at least want more of it, and this can feel incongruent. It helps to understand money as a resource, an energy. It does not have to be intrinsically good or bad. We project meaning on it.