Approach your art with an open mind and an open heart.
Creative projects often have a life of their own.
You can start with a clear vision and well-defined intentions, but your art may take you in a different direction.
As much as it is your job as an artist to steer your work in the direction you want it to go, it is also your job to listen to what your work is trying to tell you as you create it.
You will find that your best creative work is often a surprise.
Embrace this part of the process and enjoy the discoveries you make along the way.
Creativity is as much about listening to your art as it is about expressing yourself.
LISTEN TO YOUR ART By Robert Van Valkenburgh Meditations of a Gentle Warrior
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If we focus on pleasing others for long enough to the detriment of our own happiness, we eventually forget what makes us happy.
In fact, we may even forget who we are altogether.
We get so lost in the wants and needs of others that we become strangers to ourselves.
It is possible, even necessary, to course correct, to regain our bearing and rediscover our own needs and desires, but it will not be easy nor will it be painless.
Creative outlets are not just important, but are essential in knowing who we are and what our individual point of view is.
Art, regardless of the medium, is a process of both personal discovery and expression. Through the creative process we begin to unearth truths about ourselves that may have otherwise been left hidden to us and, through us, to others. The creative process helps us to discover about who we are, the way we view ourselves and the world around us, and how we relate to, and even want to shape and change, the world through our ideas and perspectives.
One of the main reasons we all need a creative outlet is that it helps us to define and refine our unique points of view. It helps us to discover, explore, and express our individual opinions and tastes, as a means of contributing something new to the collective conversation. Whether our chosen creative medium is paint and canvas, pen or pencil and paper, film, an instrument, food, or the human body, the act of creation is the act of paring away that which is not us, focusing in on what is, and concentrating that into something powerful and evocative.
Through this process of self discovery and self expression, the spirit of creativity is change. The creative process changes us and our creations change others, making us more of who we are, more of who we are meant to be, and putting into the world some part of ourselves that we hope will change others. Ideally, we start this process early in our lives, when we are young and playful, and we do not ever stop, but it is never to late to start discovering or rediscovering our creative selves.
Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.
Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Body and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Photo by Sidaravy Van Valkenburgh, shot in Sydney, Australia.
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