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!

 

7 Tips for the Aspiring Artist

It's been almost 2.5 years since my first self-run solo exhibition in 2013, which brought me from an aspiring artist to a professional one within 2 months. Despite my initial success, I've had many struggles in the past 28 months (mostly within myself), and am still rather clueless about how to run a business of selling my art. That's gonna be a work in progress for a while (more on that next time), but for now, here are 7 things I've learnt that need to be done consistently if you really want to become a professional artist.

1) Meet people.

Make it a habit to meet people. It’s not that difficult - one easy way is to join Meetup and attend events that interest you. People on Meetup want to meet you too, and can be just as shy sometimes. You’ll never know who you’ll meet! One of my clients was someone I met through Meetup and a year later, she commissioned me to paint a mural for her restaurant. So set a target to meet a certain number of strangers every week or “network” for a certain number of hours. You’ll also need to create a system to keep track of all your new friends and their information.



2) Support local arts events and local creatives.

Attend their art show openings, join communities (both online and in person) and participate in their discussions, projects and activities. Make friends, support one another, be open to collaboration opportunities. Create your own creative events and invite these artistic friends! Ask to be an event organizer in a creative Meetup group. Or just put together your own event and invite your friends and new contacts to attend. There are always creatives out there who are looking for something interesting to get into.


3) Step out of your head.

Stay connected to the world around you, even when you don’t feel like it. It’s okay to shut off once in a while, but don’t get too comfortable being there. Take a walk when you’re feeling cluttered. Journal out your thoughts and feelings. Follow up with a new friend and catch up over coffee. Spend time with your family.


4) Share your work.

Share on social media. Send images, video clips or mp3s to your close friends. Post your images in forums to ask for feedback. Share the stories and the ideas you have. You’ll never know who may find your work and fall in love with it. Share it even when it’s still in progress. Share consistently and at least once a day. It can be scary to share your work or your process, and most creatives are rather private individuals, but when you’re new, sharing your work is the only way to know how the world responds to it.


5) If you don’t know something, do your own research.

Ask people. Post on forums. Create surveys. Go out into the world and get your answers. Answers don’t come from being in your own head, or listening to your own assumptions. Talk to other creatives with more experience. This isn’t about taking what you find as the “right” answer; rather, it’s about gathering data so you can create a bigger overview of things or a reality check for yourself.


6) Be yourself in your art.

Work with what you have and what you already do well in. Have faith that there is someone out there who will love your work, even when you don’t think it’s good. Yes, technical quality and skills are important, but the people who truly fall in love with your art are going to fall in love with who you are as expressed in your work. And chances are they will be similar to you. Your art is just as unique as you are, and no one can ever replicate that in the exact same way. So embrace your art for what it is, embrace yourself for who you are, and work at both every single day.


7) Start now.

Procrastination takes you in the opposite direction of your dreams. Start NOW. Even if you have other commitments and can only put in 30 minutes a day. Even if you think you need to get more training first. Even if you feel that you’re not ready. Just get started. Ask yourself, if not now, then when? Don’t wait for tomorrow because you can never be sure what it brings. All we really have is this moment, and whether you like it or not, your life is happening right now.

"I'm NOT a Photographer": 7 Things I Learned from My First Photo Walk with 70 Other Photographers:

I'm not a photographer. At least that's what I tell myself, and what I started telling some of the first few people I met on my very first photowalk yesterday. I'm an artist, yes. I'm creative, yes. I've been an actress, a set dresser, a singer, a songwriter, a musician, a poet, a writer. But I'm no photographer.


In the process of my self-discovery project that will culminate in my second solo art show in October, I started to hear myself whenever I turn something down and label it as "Not Me". I began to question, how do I know what's "not me" until I really test it out to prove that it's "not me"? And what's with all these labels anyway? I get that we use these labels, such as our occupation, our hobbies and interests, our position in our family, descriptive words as qualifiers of our identity... but how many of these labels do we need to accumulate until we find who we are? And in the larger scheme of things, do any of these labels even really matter?

So I set out to challenge one of my labels, to step outside of my comfort zone of sketchwalks and drawing events and explore another realm of art I once refused to be a part of, simply because "I'm not a photographer."

1. The only person who's really judging you.. is yourself. 

I learned this very early on in the session. You see, out of the group of 70-80 photographers who showed up, the only person who DIDN'T have a large black Canon, Nikon or Pentel was.. ME. Every single person had their professional DSLRs, and a couple of SLRs slung around their necks or hanging off their shoulder, and backpacks with tripods stuffed into them. Me? All I had was a little Canon S110, a hand-me-down from my Mom which fits nicely in the palm of my hand, and my Samsung Galaxy S4, which I had only started using 2 days earlier. I felt SO extremely out of place, like how I felt when I first walked out of the airplane into the Nashville International Airport 6 years ago. I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb, and that everyone was looking at me and thinking: "What is this girl doing here? How come she's here when she's clearly not a photographer? Does she even know how to take pictures?"

 First group photo of the day.

I suppose it didn't help when the first person I tried to talk to (by asking if this was the photowalk group) took one look at my little silver digicam, and he was rather unfriendly, and didn't seem to want to talk to me anymore after telling me I was at the right place. After that I was really worried that no one else would want to hang around me, and maybe I should just leave. It got a little better when I met the organizer, Wilson, and I started talking to another guy, but I still couldn't shake off the self-consciousness that plagued my thoughts and I felt so embarrassed when I took photos with the little Canon. I started to tell people, "I'm not a photographer." or "I feel like a black sheep in this group with my digicam", etc. and then after the 3rd or 4th person I said that to, it suddenly occurred to me that none of them cared about that (except maybe the first guy, who I'm still hating on.. grr...).

Really, the only person who was judging me for standing out like a sore thumb or a black sheep, for not belonging to this group or this event... that person was ME. The truth was, no one else cared if I'm there or not. Everyone is so caught up in their passion for photography, in capturing their own shots that it didn't matter what I was using to take my photos. I guess if I was sketching I would probably get more attention, but the reality was, no one cares if I'm there, let alone if I belong there or not.

Funny thing is, I realize how EVERY TIME I try to join a new group or an event of strangers, I judge myself like this each and every time. Believing that no one wanted me there because I didn't belong. OMG what a delusion!

My first Instagram shot of the photo walk. I absolutely love this photo. 

Coming soon as a painting!

2) People are a lot friendlier than they seem at first, and most times, they are just as scared to talk to you as you are of them.

I'm terrified of initiating contact with a stranger, because you never know how they will respond to you. And after my attempt to talk to the first guy and he shut me down, I was even more shaken. But I managed to gather my wits, and tried again, and I realized that actually people are friendlier than they look. And the only way to find out is to take a chance and talk to them.



3) The fastest way to get people to open up is to ask them about their interests.

In a photography group, it’s pretty obvious. So I'd ask them, “How did you get started into photography?" or "Are you a professional photographer?" And before you know it, they’ll tell you the most interesting stories you never expected, and it gives you a window into their lives. One guy got into photography because everywhere he went with his girlfriend, she would want to have her picture taken with literally everything around her.


4) You can learn a lot from opening up to people and listening to their stories.

A professional photographer taught me how to use the reflective surface of the table to capture an interesting shot.

From a Polish photographer, I learned that in his experience, Singapore is one of the best places to photograph birds because they aren't afraid of people, like literally you can walk down the street and in the tree along the roadside he has found birds' nests with baby birds in them. AND if you're looking to photograph night wildlife, Vermont Cemetery is a great place for seeing owls and civet cats.


 
5) Be prepared to be a subject in others’ photography.

It’s a photo walk, and you’re a person, and if there are photographers who like to shoot people in a natural state, don’t be surprised if you see someone’s camera pointing in your direction. Also, be prepared to take a few group photos along the way.

 After I snapped this alley along Ann Siang Rd and I walked off, someone else snapped this:

6) You’ll never know what you’re capable of until you do something out of your comfort zone.



Before yesterday, I didn't see myself as a photographer. Now I realize that even the word itself can mean so many things. Sure, I may not be a professional photographer with one of those bulky cameras, but I'm an artist, and the camera is simply another medium for creative expression. And nowadays with so many tools and apps, you can always use a filter on your photos to make them look closer to what your vision was. I ended up actually taking more photos on my Samsung and using Instagram filters to turn them into something really cool.

 By using my Instagram square cropper and a filter, I got this cool sky shot, from the photo below.

7) Keep on trying.

Like all things in life, if at first you don't succeed, or you're absolutely clueless about what to do, or you don't seem to get the results that you want. Just keep on trying. Try something different. Try a new angle of looking at things. Try another method to get the result you want. And if things still don't work, put a pause on them and move on, and come back another time.

Here are more of my favorite photos from this walk:

Self-Discovery and Growth: A prelude to my second solo exhibition.

Paintings in progress for my second solo exhibition, 2014.

A little over a week ago, I decided it was time to have my second solo exhibition. To be honest, I've been putting this off for months out of FEAR - fear that nobody would come to my second solo show or buy my art. You see, there's something you may or may not know about me - I tend to believe in general that I'm not good enough to deserve success or things going well in my life. So I'm worried of finding out that I have no real artistic talent, and that my first solo show was a success only because it was the first and most of my friends/family hadn't expected me to go down the artist's path. In other words, it was simply beginner's luck and I'm simply not meant to be an artist. YIKES! (This is normally where I go and watch TV and escape into lala land...)

I recently posted on Facebook about asking a stranger out for coffee, which is by far my most popular post to date. (Quick update: No follow up, I kinda got busy and forgot about him haha). The thing that gave me that extra push to just go talk to him and ask him out was this:

I asked myself:

How long more do you want to wait before you do what you really want to do? How much time do you think you have left?

And if you don't do this now, then when?

This second solo show is something I eventually have to face anyway, since I've committed to walk the artist's path. And if I don't do it now, how long more do I want to wait? How will everything else I have intended for my artist career in the next 5 years happen if I keep avoiding this one thing?

So armed with my paintbrushes, canvas, imagination, and a whole lot of impulse and guts, I jumped on the opportunity that my friend and life coach Carina presented - to coach me on a 4-week long project that would lead to the creation of this long awaited second solo show. From our first coaching session in at 1a.m. on August 26 (yes, she is a very dedicated coach!), I uncovered what this project is going to be about... "The Adventure of Finding Who I Am".

A few months or maybe even a year ago, another friend and life coach Kunqi posted this on her Facebook wall:

"What if I told you, in order to find out who you are, you have to find out who you are not and try to be a lot of different things including who you are not to find out who you are. And in the process, you'll find that you don't mind being who you are not and it really doesn't matter who you are. Question is, do you know where you wanna go?"

 I copied and pasted it on a virtual sticky note on my Macbook, and it's still there to this day:

So I've spent nearly 3 decades of my life following what I think my parents expect of me, and how I perceive others would want me to behave, etc. Simply because I have a deep fear of rejection, and so I choose to play it safe, to hide in the background, to remain on the fringes instead of really throwing myself into the life I want and embracing all that it has to offer. But how much is there that life has to offer? The only way to know is to jump in and find out. And "in order to find out who you are, you have to find out who you are not and try to be a lot of different things".

If you don't do this now, then when?

I must admit the first week went pretty horribly. You know how when you decide to really go after something, your defenses kick in and you start making all kinds of excuses not to do it? Like when you see a cute stranger and you start imagining what it'd be like to hang out with him, and you think maybe you should go talk to him, but then what if he doesn't like me, what if he already has a girlfriend, what if he thinks I'm crazy... etc. etc. etc. But thanks to my second session with Carina, I managed to sort through these excuses and put them aside. I have twice as much to do in this second week to catch up, but I know I can make it happen. (After all, I've done it before in January 2013 when preparing for my first solo exhibition. I really have no excuse for not being able to pull it off another time...)

So the tree has been appearing in my work lately, even in my current art campaign to make art-buying more accessible to the general public: "100 Artworks below $100". (If you would like to get original art by an emerging artist at insanely affordable prices, join here). The tree is a symbol for growth, for strength and endurance, for something that takes root deeply within oneself, and evolves into something greater. A journey of self-discovery is also a journey of growth. I'm excited to see how this body of work evolves over the next few weeks.

The dates aren't set yet, the venue isn't confirmed, and I don't know how the art is going to turn out, or where I'm going to get the money to fund this next show... and these sure are enough excuses to quit and put this show off again for the next few months. But if I don't do this now, then when?

I invite you now to really take an honest look at your life.

What is one thing that you've always wanted to do, but for whatever reasons, you keep putting it off? How long more do you want to wait?

If you don't do this now, then when?

Your life is waiting. Jump in.

Living in the NOW: 4 steps to being present.

 "Brooklyn rooftops" (2014), acrylic and ink on canvas, 16x12 in.

On a similar tangent from yesterday's post "Letting go", I'm thinking today that I have an attachment to a particular place - Brooklyn NY. Well, the whole New York City actually.. I lived in Brooklyn in mid 2011 to mid 2012, and I have many attachments there. For one, who doesn't love New York? It's one of the most amazing cities in the world - rich in history, international cultures, and the literary and performing arts. And it's also a city that never sleeps. You can find 24 hour diners everywhere, and some of the subway lines run all night (with less frequency of course). I loved being there. Being there made me feel like I was really an artist and anything is possible, and my artist dream would happen soon.

And of course a significant part of my recent tragic real-life romance drama took place while I lived there. He's a New Yorker of Latino descent, and I really was crazy about him (still am in some ways, to be frank). I'm pretty sure on an less conscious level, I moved to New York in the hopes that things would have worked out between us. As a consequence, I have many not so happy memories of being in the city of my dreams.

So.. what is this post really about? I guess what I'm saying is that a part of me is still in New York, wondering what it'd be like if I had taken up more opportunities, if I had lived further away from him, if I had come out of my comfort zone more. I'm still attached to the possible outcomes I could have had, the places I could have explored, and the connections I could have made. Knowing what I know now about myself, I would like to go back and redo a lot of my time there.

But I was not present while I was there, and thinking about what could have been keeps me from being present where I'm at now.

Most of us are intellectually aware that the only real time we have is NOW, and maybe the next few minutes. The past is gone, the future is unknown, yada yada... But why is it so difficult to live in the present? Why do we waste the time we have now on things that don't really matter to us, only to look back later and wish we'd done it all differently? Why do we invest our time and energy into things that don't bring us forward in life? What are your attachments, your baggage that keep you from fully experiencing your life right here right now?

Here's what I've learned about being present.

1. Let go of your attachments

Examine, acknowledge and choose to let go of your attachments to the past, and to worries of the future.

My attachment to New York is due to the incomplete romance I had there (which was still going on until recently), and that I didn't fully experience living in that city. I wish I had traveled more, sought out more chances to interact and learn from other artists, and come out of my comfort zone. I acknowledge that New York has a certain charm that attracts artists like myself, but I don't have to be in such a place in order to make my artist dream come true. When I first returned to Singapore, I was very sad and reluctant, but now I'm choosing to stick around for other bigger reasons.

2. Consciously choose to be here in this moment, wherever you are now.

Engage as many of your senses as possible. Open your eyes and take in the colors around you, how the sunlight comes in through the window, how it falls upon your loved one's face, how the sky looks. Listen to what's around you - the birds outside, the traffic going by, people's voices. Feel using all parts of your body - the ground under your feet, the chair you're sitting on, the materials against your skin.

3. Ask yourself: What can I do now that will take me forward in the next few minutes?

If all you have left is a few minutes, how will you spend that time? Who will you spend that time with? Will you finally do something that you really want to do or waste it again on something that doesn't really matter?

4. Go do it!

I'm not saying that the usual mundane day-to-day stuff isn't important - it's just that we keep thinking we always have time LATER to handle what really matters to us, but the truth is we really only have NOW. So take the next few minutes and go do whatever it is!