7 Ways You Are Limiting Your Creativity (and hence Yourself)

As an artistic creative, I've noticed that people tend to equate creativity with the arts, and fail to acknowledge it in other professions or in the everyday aspects of life.

 

What many don't seem to realise is that to be human is to create, and creativity is an innate part of us all.

 

To further illustrate this, here are 7 ways you may be limiting your creativity, and hence yourself and the possibilities for your life.

 

 

1) Telling yourself “I’m not creative."

 

All humans are born with the capacity to create something, whether it's an artwork, an invention, a solution, or finding the best way to fix your look on a bad hair day.

 

If you already believe that you’re not creative… then you won't really try to be creative, even in situations that call for a little creativity, which leads to feeling helpless about the situation, which further perpetuates your conclusion that you aren't creative... And basically what you have created is a vicious cycle.

 

And since you unconsciously created that cycle in the first place, why not put some of that energy (if not ALL of it) into actually exercising your creative abilities in a forwarding way!

 

Ask yourself: What makes you even have this self-limiting belief in the first place? What happened that led you to create this conclusion about yourself?

 

Creativity is a muscle, and like all your other muscles, and the more you exercise it, it will become stronger and easier to wield. You'll begin to see connections between things that on the surface seem unrelated, which is where out-of-the-box thinking begins.

 

So stop telling yourself that you’re not creative, and start allowing yourself to ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE!

 

 

2) Telling yourself “I can’t draw"

 

Remember the time when you were a child and one of your natural pastimes was to put crayon to paper (or the nice clean wall..) and make seemingly random marks?

 

And after a while you'd start to re-create your world, scribbling smiling stick figures to represent your family, a triangle over a rectangle to represent your home, green for the grass, blue for the sky, yellow for the sun, and so on...

 

Did you care if your drawings were “good”? And when you felt you messed it up or made a mistake, did you not just get another piece of paper and start again?

 

Weren't you simply enjoying the moment and expressing yourself, a simple process of celebrating your world through mark-making?

 

I often meet people who, after finding out I’m an artist, almost immediately proclaim that they can’t draw, or that creativity is not for them.

 

Upon further probing, I’ve started to realise their conclusion has roots in memories of an authority figure (usually parent or art teacher) criticising their artwork or reinforcing that an ambition in art is nothing more than a pipe dream.

 

(The latter happened to me at age 8, and I stopped drawing for the fun of it after that.)

 

For most individuals, all it takes is one significant incident, and that’s it — from that point they no longer believe they have artistic abilities, or that they are creative.

 

And worse, they completely reject an innate ability that every one of us possesses — mark-making, which is the basis of drawing.

 

Mark-making is the one thing that ANYONE can do. ANYONE. Even quadriplegics or people with no arms can make marks on a paper. (Even apes and elephants can wield a paintbrush and make marks!)

 

And like all abilities that get more refined with intentional and consistent practice, when you’ve spent enough time with mark-making and learning different tools for improvement, you can easily create shapes and forms that represent your world.

 

The point here isn’t about what a “good” drawing is supposed to look like, or if your images fall into the category of what “art” is or isn’t.

 

The point is that the belief that we can’t draw makes us completely stop making marks on paper, completely stop expressing our world, ourselves and our creativity -- a tool that is innately ours from a very young age.

 

 

3) Telling yourself “I’m not good at …. “ or “I can’t….”

 

The moment you tell yourself you’re not good at something, you’ve already closed off all possibilities of even trying it out, and subsequently, of expanding your own horizons and experiences in life.

 

Such statements like “I’m not good at sports” or “I can’t write poetry” or “I’m not flexible” are limiting, because the moment you believe them, you’d have unconsciously created a box around yourself.

 

The only time you may be allowed to declare that you’re can’t do something is when you’ve tried EVERYTHING possible to learn it, and you put in 10,000 hours to be good at it, and you learn from ALL the best teachers in the world, and you still end up sucking.

 

We’ve read stories of people with disabilities who’ve become accomplished athletes, artists and other professionals (such as this guy). We’ve heard stories of famous people who never gave up until they got their breakthroughs and how their actions shaped the world at that time.

 

I’ve seen my grandmother start learning ballet at 60, and every day she stretched until a year later, she could easily do a front-back split.

 

And as for myself, I spent most of my teens and 20’s believing that I could never be physically fit. This belief was further justified when I found out at 25 that I had Thalassemia Minor, which explained the times I got light-headed easily and nearly blacked out during strenuous P.E. lessons in school.

 

Then at 29 I went on a 3-week long hiking and camping road trip in America, without any prior training or regular exercise. And after daily hikes of long distances and various terrains in Yosemite, Mt. Zion, Bryce, Arches, and the Grand Canyon (in cool-looking boots that I realised later were really not meant for hiking...), I started to see that whatever I had previously believed about my physical limitations were nothing more than self-created delusions.

 

Today at age 32, I’m in the best physical shape of my life (and still working on it!), after being in the worst shape for the whole of my 20’s.

 

 

4) Choosing to watch from the sidelines, versus jumping in to participate.

 

Life is short, and we simply aren’t given enough time to try all activities available and to become good at them.

 

Hence it’s normal to live vicariously by listening to others’ stories, reading about their experiences, or watching their performances.

 

That’s part of what sells books and seminars and shows, because we want to know what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes.

 

And there’s nothing wrong with that, because exposure to all of these adds to your own experiences of life anyway, though in an indirect fashion.

 

It becomes limiting, however, when all you do is watch, read and listen — when you’d rather be a part of the audience, instead of an active participant.

 

When it comes to something that you’re interested to experience, watching all the videos or reading all the books or speaking to all the experts in the world will not give you the truth of what that experience is really like.

 

That is something only you can find out for yourself, and your first-hand experience is unique only to you.

 

The more first-hand experiences you have, and the wider the range, the more you’ll find connections beyond an intellectual understanding, and you can draw on that to create something out of the box.

 

So jump in and try out and really get your hands dirty with the stuff that you’re interested in.

 

Who knows, maybe after messing around in it for a while you’ll realise that you actually don’t like it. And if you don’t like it, why would you want to continue to spend more time, energy and resources on related books, talks and videos?

 

Simply take your new experiences and learnings and move on to something else.

 

 

5) Staying in your comfort zone

 

One of the reasons why people live vicariously through the records of others’ experiences has to do with fear.

 

Fear takes many forms — fear of failure, fear of making mistakes, fear of embarrassment, fear of the unknown, and more common than you’d think: the fear of success.

 

When you’ve created a self-limiting belief and held fast to it for most of your life, it becomes part of your comfort zone, and part of your identity.

 

Challenging your self-limiting belief is terrifying because if you actually succeed at what you once thought you couldn’t do, the comfort zone and identity you've created will no longer be relevant, and something else needs to be created to take its place.

 

Creating and defining this “something new” comes with all the fears mentioned above (and more that we’re perhaps not aware of). It can be painful, confusing, and unsettling for some time, until the new (more evolved) comfort zone and identity is created.

 

As a result we tend to sabotage ourselves and create justifications and excuses, so that we won’t have to give up our old comfort zone, so we won’t have to change who we believe we are, and life would just be smooth-sailing from here on (or so we assume).

 

What I’ve come to learn (reluctantly) is that the process of growth is painful and uncomfortable, and that’s just how it is. If you want to evolve as a person, breaking out of your comfort zone and hence challenging your identity is inevitable and even necessary at times.

 

But when you can leave your comfort zone, you gain a wider, more encompassing view of yourself and your world, and that can spark inspiration not only for creative ideas, but also for a new direction and new creations in your life. Expanding your awareness and challenging your perceptions in this manner allows you to see things in a new light, and connections between what used to appear unrelated.

 

 

6) Watching too much TV mindlessly

 

Watching TV is one of the most passive pastimes, as it simply involves a mindless absorption of what’s happening on the screen.

 

Unless you’re watching something that blows your mind and challenges your perception, or unless you’re actively analysing and studying the layers in the show, simply watching and absorbing and getting sucked into the drama doesn’t go a long way for your creative development.

 

(I’m honestly writing this one for myself.)

 

TV-watching represents a very comfortable time in my childhood as it used to be my family pastime. It’s also a chance to escape from my boring and painful reality, and live many completely different lives through someone else's stories.

 

Of course, it’s not wrong to watch TV! Like books and the Internet, TV offers a window to the world-at-large, and you can get ideas and expand your knowledge from there.

 

What really matters, then, is HOW you’re spending your TV time. If you’re engaged mainly in mindless absorption and escape from reality (and mindless snacking), then how forwarding is it really to your health, life, and your creative development?

 

This also applies to other forms of information like books, articles, websites, etc. If you’re constantly lost in mindless absorption and mental escape, how much of life are you actually missing out on?

 

 

7) Listening to people who are limiting themselves and their own creativity

 

And of course, like the blind leading the blind, people who stay within their comfort zone will want others to do the same.

 

Most of the time, their intentions aren’t bad and they believe they’re looking out for you. Like when your parents tell you that an artistic ambition isn’t practical in the real world. Or when your romantic partner is happy with the routine you’ve both created and doesn’t want anything to change.

 

They’re not wrong; they’re human. And part of being human means having numerous self-imposed limitations that you’ve unconsciously created over the course of your entire life.

 

And honestly, there’s really nothing wrong with having those self-limiting beliefs either. You’re human too!

 

But if you’re tired of repeating the same patterns and behaviours, and wondering why you can’t seem to achieve the goals that you want, then perhaps it’s time to exercise a little bit of creativity, and create something different for yourself.

 

And in the process of doing that, people who don’t know any better will try to get into your head and stop you.

 

So be careful who you choose to listen to.

 

Heck, don’t even believe anything I’m saying! I’m just a human being too, and I still have many of my own self-limiting beliefs to sort out.

 

But I enjoy sharing what I’ve learned and realised in my journey, and I hope that what I’ve written can support you in yours.

 

The only way to find out is to find out for yourself. So go test it out!

 

And remember to enjoy your process!

 

Story Behind the Art: "New Sky" (2013)

 

"New Sky" is a painting I created in 2013, using acrylic on canvas, with the penguins illustrated on watercolor paper and glued onto the painted surface. To date, it's perhaps my most popular artwork. But few people know the story behind it, and what I've learned from this creative process. So here's a short blog post sharing this story.

In the middle of 2013, I was a member of an art group called Heartspace, founded and led by art therapist Joanna Tan. The group met almost every Saturday from 9am to 1pm to create art, share about our artwork and reflect upon the stuff behind it. The sessions were held in an art studio at a Catholic church, but it was open to all, and some of the regulars themselves were not Catholic. I loved the inclusiveness of this group, and that it brought people together through their love for creative expression and spiritual exploration. However, because I'm so not a morning person, the times I did show up were very few and far between.

One day however, I made an effort to get up early, gather my art materials (materials are provided at the studio but I like using my own stuff since I'm used to them), and took the 15-minute bus ride to the church. (Now that I think about it, it really wasn't much of a hassle for me to be there, which goes to show how lazy I am!) When I attend such sessions, I tend to approach the process with a blank slate mentality and allow things to just unfold according to some greater higher cosmic creative power. After a brief welcome and introduction by Joanna, we had 2 hours to create, then the last 45 minutes would be when we gathered to share about our creation.

I had no images in mind, so I browsed the photos in my iPad. I tend to collect photos that inspire me whenever I come across them, like through Facebook, Instagram, sometimes during my Google searches for reference images. That morning, it was this photo of a beautiful sunset that got my attention, and I honestly don't remember where I got it from so I'm not able to credit it to the photographer at this time. (If this photo belongs to you, let me know so I can link it back to you!)

Such a beautiful picture right?!

To me it's of a sunrise, the creation of a new sky, a clean slate, a brand new day, a fresh beginning. It evokes in me feelings of freedom, joy, and adventure, that anything is possible. I really wanted to recreate this, and as a self-taught artist who hadn't taken lessons on painting, I knew it was going to be a challenge. But nevertheless, since this sunrise makes me feel like anything is possible, here was my opportunity to attempt something outside of my artistic capabilities and comfort zone.

It took... a long while.. I did what I could in the 2 hours at Heartspace, but after that at home, I worked on this for perhaps a total of 10-15 hours over a few days. It was really outside of my comfort zone and abilities, as most of my painted works up to this moment were much simpler (as you can see in the paintings from my first solo exhibition a few months earlier). Secondly, this canvas was 18 x 24 inches and much larger than what I'm used to. So I struggled through this painting, getting discouraged by how unlike the photo it looked, and distracted by easier works, TV shows and Facebook stalking. I wanted to give up so many times, and finally I had to accept that I can only do the best I can, and even if it looks nothing at all like the photograph, as long as I'm happy with the result, it was complete. Strangely though, even when I declared that my sunrise was finished, it didn't look or feel finished to me. It was as if something was missing.

(Oops.. I don't have a picture of the sunrise painting without the penguins.. So, um, just use your imagination and keep reading..)

If you've seen the artworks from my first solo exhibition, you'll know that they tell a story of penguins who live in the clouds, fly across the sky, and pursue the things they are passionate about. After that exhibition, which was held in February 2013, I was working on my first children's book illustration project, and hadn't really done much painting for a while. So when mid 2013 came around and I picked up a canvas and paintbrushes again, I thought maybe it was time to create something else, something new, perhaps without penguins. Initially I had expected this sunrise painting to take me in a different direction, but as I stared at it, I had a hunch that perhaps the new beginning I needed wouldn't completely deviate from what I'd done before.

So I took out my watercolor paper, drew and colored 3 flying penguins, cut them out, and blu-tacked them on the sunrise just to have a look. And to my surprise, with the addition of these 3 penguins, the painting was and felt complete. That was when I realized that my little sky penguins weren't really going anywhere else just yet, that it was just the beginning, and there were many more of them to come.

As the sun rises over a new horizon, bringing with it a brand new day and a brand new sky, what are you creating for your life today? With this clean slate and blank page comes the freedom to write, paint, draw, sing, dance, perform... do whatever you truly want.

Such freedom can be scary sometimes, because when possibilities are endless, you may not know where to begin, or even which direction to face. So here's a few things I've learned from this creative process that may help:

1. If you don't know where to begin, find a place to start.

I didn't know what I was going to paint that day at Heartspace. The idea that artists are always inspired is a myth. Most of the time, inspiration comes only when you go looking for it. Similarly in life, we sometimes have no answers, or too many options, and we get stuck and don't know what's next. As such it's always a good idea to keep a collection of images, quotes, writing, videos, books -- anything, really! -- that can inspire, prompt or remind you when you're uncertain of where to go.

2. When you've started and get overwhelmed or discouraged, work on it one small part at a time, and keep going.

Sometimes the direction we take may require certain skills or knowledge that we don't have, or we may get discouraged by the immense gap between where we're at and our destination. Keep going. Find a way to work at it one small portion at a time. Get help if you can. As a wise friend recently said to me, you can go as fast or as slow as you want, but the important thing is, you have to keep moving.

3. Learn to trust your gut when something doesn't "feel" right.

Call it intuition, or a weird feeling, or psychic or whatever.. if something doesn't feel right, pause and figure out exactly what that is. Try something different. Approach things from another angle. Don't discount anything until you find your answer. And trust that you will know when you've found it.

4. Practice, and practice consistently.

Good things come unexpectedly, and usually when you put in the time to do the necessary work. When it comes to art, doing the work means showing up consistently and creating, even when you don't feel like it, even when uninspired. When it comes to intentionally living your life, you need to consistently take time to be with yourself and connect to yourself. Now that I think back to it, I should have made it a point to attend those Heartspace sessions regularly, as a means to consistently create and express myself through art.

So what are you creating for your life today?

"New Sky" (2013) is still available at S$750.00. Chat with me at penguingirlart@gmail.com if you would like to take it home!

7 Steps to Create Your Vision Map for 2016

 

What’s Your Vision for 2016? Follow these 7 steps to find out!

 

Step #1: Find a quiet place for 1-3 hours for this exercise.

 

Set aside about 1-3 hours for this exercise. Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed for that duration, preferably in a space where you feel you can be as authentic as possible. Turn your phone to silent mode and put it away where you won’t be distracted by it. Let your family members or housemates know not to disturb you during this time.

 

You may also light a candle or some incense to create a more relaxing atmosphere.

 

 

Step #2: Visualise the 2016 you would like to have.

 

Give your imagination the permission to wander freely. Adopt either a sitting position or lying down, and let your eyes close (Ensure that you’re not too comfortable, or you may doze off during this exercise!). Focus on your breathing — inhale creativity and vitality, exhale any tension or worry. Allow your entire body to relax by imagining soothing waves spreading over your entire body from the top of your head, down your neck and over your torso, all the way through to your feet and out the tips of your toes.

 

When you feel completely relaxed, bring yourself some time into the future, 1, 2 or 5 years from now. See yourself in the various spaces of your life — your home, your workplace, your favourite spots, traveling, etc. For each of these places, notice what is around you: How large or small is the space? What colors, textures and smells do you sense? What is the energy of the space like? Are you alone or are others with you? Who are they and what are they doing? What impact do you have on them?

 

Allow yourself to connect with what brings you the most joy and fulfilment. What do you truly enjoy? What values do you honour in the various aspects of your life? How would you like to create your life in the coming years, months, or even weeks? Stay in this space for as long as you like (without falling asleep), and allow yourself to take in more details and fully experience the feelings and sensations of living this life. Know that it is a reflection of who you are, and your values, voice and vision.

 

When you’re ready, slowly come back to the present time. Remember that you can always re-visit your vision whenever you wish.

 

 

Step #3: Journal your experience.

 

Take a moment to journal about what you’ve experienced. Either in free flow writing or doodling or both, record in as much detail as you can remember, including the images, colors, sensations and emotions. If you’re working on this exercise with a partner, feel free to take turns to share your respective visualisation. Use these questions to deepen your exploration:

 

- What was the experience like?

- What did you notice at various aspects of your visualisation?

- How did you feel about the experience?

 

If you don’t like visualisations, here’s an alternative exercise (combination of Steps #2 — #3):

 

Set a timer for 10 minutes. During this time, allow yourself to journal freestyle where you see your life in the future. Keep writing or drawing nonstop, and if you get stuck, quickly shake your whole body and carry on journalling. When the timer rings, look over what you just recorded.

 

What surprises you? What excites you? Where can you further develop it?

 

 

Step #4: Bring your vision to life with a collage.

 

Materials need:

- Magazines, photographs, junk mail, catalogues, marketing materials that inspire you.

- Glue (a glue stick would do just fine, but you can also use tape)

- Scissors

- A surface to collage on - foam board, large piece of sturdy paper or cardboard, poster board

 

Set a time limit of 10 minutes and go through the magazines to find images or words that evoke what you experienced in your vision or journalling. Cut or tear out pictures and words that speak to you somehow, that resonate with you emotionally. Don’t edit yourself, just keep cutting. You can always keep any extras in an envelope for another time.

 

 

Step #5: Organise the images in a way that has meaning to you.

 

After the 10 minutes are up, sort through your collected images and start grouping them. Arrange them to tell the story of your future. Allow yourself to organise the clippings in any way that feel right to you. You may create categories of your own,  or let your images naturally organise themselves in an arrangement that has meaning to you.

 

Don’t worry if you had certain words in mind and couldn’t find clippings of them. You can always write them or doodle them with a sharpie later on.

 

 

Step #6: When you’re ready, glue the images down.

 

You can start to glue or tape the images onto the collage surface once you have a feel for the flow. Feel free to use a Sharpie to doodle and write on your collage, or to highlight certain key things, or even just to decorate any part of your visual map. As long as it feels right to you, go for it!

 

 

Step #7: Put your map in a place where you can see it every day.

 

Because this map is your guide for the year, put it up in a place where you will see it daily. Use it to hold yourself to the path you intended to walk on, especially during times you may take a wrong turn or get distracted from your vision.

 

Remember that nothing is set in stone, and that we are constantly changing. If there are parts of your vision map that no longer resonate with you as the year goes by, you can always edit the map where applicable. The wonderful thing about collages is that adding on to it is easy, and you can simply paste new clippings on top of the images that are no longer relevant to you.

 

 

 

Have fun creating your Vision Map for 2016! Share it with your friends, and encourage them to try creating one for themselves too!

 

 

My Vision Map for 2016: "Making Your Art Work with Love, Possibilities and Gratitude"

What's Your Vision for 2016?

"Life is a journey that gives you the liberty to draw your own map, and choose your own route."

- Dennis E. Adonis (Educational Author, Novelist, and Musician)

 

11 days into the new year, and I finally got round to creating my Vision Map for 2016.(Better late than never I guess…)

 

You might be wondering — what’s a Vision Map? Basically it’s a visual guide that you put together such that you have an idea of where you’re headed, whether it’s your life as a whole, or for your career or your business, or even just for this year. When you're traveling, in order to know how to get to your destination, you need to consult a map. The more detailed and clearer the map, the more effective it is in getting you to your destination efficiently. In the journey of life, whether you're creating your own map or following a standardised one, both gets you to a certain endpoint and neither is right or wrong or “better” than the other. However, I’d rather chart out my own course, and should you wish to create your own Vision Map, you can check out my blog article “7 Steps to Creating Your Vision Map”.

 

So I went though these 7 steps, and here’s my Vision Map, summed up with my vision statement for the year: “Making My Art Work with Love, Possibilities and Gratitude.”

 

My Vision Map for 2016.

2015 has been a year of uncovering difficult truths about myself, and how I’ve failed time and again to love the most important person in my world — myself. It has been painfully amusing to see certain patterns repeat themselves and how I keep making the same mistakes, but I’ve learned a few important lessons along the way. Firstly, I’ve started to accept the high probability that I will repeat those mistakes a few more times until I actually learn my lesson. Secondly, when I think I’ve learned my lesson, I should never assume that I’ve actually learned it. And thirdly but most importantly, that I have to do whatever it takes to remind myself of the bigger picture, the higher path, and the greater self that I’m fighting the good fight for. So that’s where creating my Vision Map comes in - as a tool to keep me on my intended path, because based on past circumstances, I already anticipate many wrong turns and side-journeys to come. In the words of bestselling author and speaker Dr. Steve Maraboli: “A wrong turn doesn’t end the journey. If you feel lost, just look at your map and get back on the road. The map will always lead you in the right direction."

 

My direction for 2016: "Making My Art Work with Love, Possibilities and Gratitude."

 

In a nutshell, this statement is a reminder of my fundamental responsibility as an artist — not only to make art, but to make art that resonates with me, art that I love. One of my core values is Love, and I intend to bring out my love this year as much as I can. During the final months of 2015, self-love was a recurring theme in my life, and it is going to be the one in the foreground for 2016. Possibilities refers to my belief that dreams can come true, that penguins can live in the clouds and fly across the sky. And finally, Gratitude caught me by surprise, but for various reasons, I believe it’s going to be a recurring lesson for me this year. More on that for a later time.

 

So there you have it, my vision for 2016.

 

What’s your vision for your 2016? What would you like to create?

How will you grow this year? And what do you need to let go of in the process?

 

Create your own Vision Map using these 7 steps, and share it with your friends when you’re done!