Artists must accept risk all the time. What’s your opinion on risk-taking in creative work and in life in general?

Anytime you’re bringing forth what hasn’t been, you’re faced with risks. Primarily, rejection, but also the risks associated with digging deeper within yourself to expose more of who you are to the world. Be certain: we are not our work. But we are responsible for it and we are the ones who have been entrusted with it. So, there are risks involved in facing our fears about the quality and potential of our work against what the work is in itself and how it is received. Most artists create because that is simply who they are and they can’t imagine life without creating. Creating itself doesn’t necessarily involve risk. But when you take that work out into the world and release it, then you definitely have risk.

There are more important risks to take though and those are the willingness to actually create a life you love. Those risks are life risks – and have nothing to do with whether or not you work in a creative field. It’s so easy to assume that life is just what it is – and not ever get to the point where you not only imagine a bigger life, but actually create it. The biggest creative risk in life is not having created your own life.

How do you create a “bigger” life, pursue your dreams?

When you get to a point where you understand fully that you are Source Energy and that you are here to experience joy – not just occasionally, but most of the time – much of the traditional “risks” begin to fall away. You begin to realize that you really have nothing to lose by pursuing your dreams and crafting a life that brings you joy.

Most of what we learn to fear in life are things that should never be feared, because they cannot actually destroy us. Financial ruin is one of the biggest fears people stumble over when considering doing something that would make them happier and more fulfilled. If you get to a place where you understand that money is simply energy, like the air we breathe and the food we eat, it’s replenishable, renewable, you let go of that intense fear of losing it. It’s meant to flow in and out of our lives much like the air we breathe. You can create money in your life and when you truly learn that, you know that if you lose it, you can create it again. Money becomes a tool instead of a fence. That really sets you free.

If you know that you will essentially be okay, that the Universe will provide, that you are Source Energy and have the power to create your experience, then you open to risks. And how you set yourself free is by becoming conscious of what you think and believe about money. You examine those beliefs, figure out if they still serve you and replace the limiting ones with ones that do support who you want to be.

Essentially, you have to set yourself free to take risks. We hold ourselves back far more than any other force can ever hold us. And what holds us back is limiting beliefs. A belief is just a thought that you keep thinking over and over again. Stop thinking it, stop assuming it’s true and, presto –  you change it. It’s a process – you start somewhere and as you open and take more risks, you start dreaming bigger and bigger. You accomplish one dream and it’s replaced by another. It’s a lot like climbing a mountain – what looks so far up and impossible from the bottom of the hill, doesn’t look that way when you get closer to it. Once you reach that place, you look higher, you keep climbing.

So what’s changing is your perspective. And what is perspective? Your thoughts on something.

But how do you get to the point where it’s not just wishing, but reality?

Action. You don’t have to change your beliefs first. Start climbing. Your beliefs will be challenged as you do. And, you’ll have to either change them to accommodate your new goal or stop climbing. That’s how we grow, that’s how life either gets bigger or stays small. Many, many bigger lives, happier ones, incredible accomplishments never happen because people do not make up their minds and decide that that’s what they want. Decision is so essential to creating a life you love. We tend to wallow in a space of wishing, hoping, dreaming then talking ourselves out of it, tallying all the reasons it couldn’t work, feeling afraid, shrinking because we fear we’re inadequate, not good enough, that we’ll fail – and cycling through this. And what happens? We never decide.

Decide what you want – and a whole new force of energy rushes in.

You can’t wait for perfect timing. Perfect timing doesn’t exist. You start by deciding what you want. Taking action, changing your beliefs along the way, essentially growing into your dream.

Do you have to start small?

That’s a great question. Most advice out there tells you take baby steps. Inch your way along your dream path. For some that’s good, practical advice. It’s not right for everyone. You don’t have to start small. In fact, you may want to start at the top. And by this, I mean start seeing yourself, your life through the lens of who you want to be, what you want to have achieved and live from that perspective. As Mike Dooley says “Dwelling from, not upon, the space you want to inherit is the fastest way to change absolutely everything.”  That’s absolutely true.