To Choose or Not to Choose?--That Is the Question

—by Cyncie Winter, Creativity Coach and Professional Artist--

In my last blog, I talked about how to become our own Coach to empower our creative output. If we are going to learn to coach our Inner Artist, one of the big questions we will have to deal with is how to make choices.

As artists we are constantly making choices…choices about whether to create, what to create, when to start and stop, how much to do at any given time. The list goes on and on. Basically, these choices fall into three categories:

Choosing what to work on

Choosing to Work

Choosing while working

The kicker is that even if we choose not to work, that is a choice—right?

In his book Coaching the Artist Within, Eric Maisel talks about the steps that are necessary and fundamental to the inherent choices we are called upon to make as artist. Here they are:

1) You decide to matter

2) You accept that you must make meaning

3) You identify your life purposes and articulate a life purpose statement

4) You hold the intention to fulfill your life purposes

5) You passionately act to fulfill your life purposes

If you find yourself spinning into overwhelm reading about these choices, it makes sense, because these are not mundane, little tasks. In fact, they are really about creating foundations of meaning and purpose for our lives.

So let me make this a little easier for you. If you could choose one word or phrase that you could embrace that would encompass what you would like to do as an artist, you have begun the process of choosing what you would like to do as an artist. Maybe it’s something like this “To uplift” “To offer Beauty” “To provide spiritual or political commentary” "To be a change-maker”

If you can begin by taking this first courageous step, by making a conscious choice on behalf of your Call to Create, then you have begun to infuse your Inner Artist with all sorts of choices, all sorts of possibilities. You have decided to matter and to make meaning. You have begun to distill what your life purpose might be in regard to your creative expression.

So if you could listen closely enough, what would your Inner Artist like to manifest in the world?

And, in the words of Mary Oliver, the poet….”Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

If you’d like to work with me personally on how to make the best choices that would empower your Inner Artist, I would love to help you out. Shoot me an email, and we can talk more about it. cynciew@ecentral.com

Kathy Beekman and Cyncie Winter are here to help you empower your art career and your creative expression. Let us know how we can support you!

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