Category Archives: Motivation
What Do We Expect Our Art to Do?
This is a question worth considering as you present your work to the public.
What is it that we expect of it? What reaction are we looking for? And perhaps more importantly, should we be looking for a reaction?
The answers come down to the intention we hold for our creative work.
Why do we do it? Who is it for? Are we creating for ourselves, for the fulfillment it provides us, for joy and satisfaction – for the sheer knowledge that the creative work is given to us to be expressed? Or are we creating it for an audience? To move people, inspire, invoke, disturb even?
Clearly, there can be mixed intentions. Giving some thought to what they are can help you prepare for the public’s reaction.
Even when you’ve been there, done that and the process is familiar – every new project deserves attention to this question.
What do you expect of your art? Who is it for?
Be There
Be there. Go there now and never leave. Imagine that your dreams have already come true. Live your life from that mindset. Predicate your behavior on that reality, not the illusions that now surround you. Filter every thought, question, and answer from there. Let your focus shift and be born again – because dwelling from, not upon, the space you want to inherit is the fastest way to change absolutely everything.
– Mike Dooley http://www.tut.com
How would your life be different if the biggest dream you have right now, already came true?
Put yourself out into the future. Be there. Feel it. Feels good, right?
How will you be different when you are standing on the other side of your dream, looking back?
We grow into our dreams by living them, feeling them, imagining them as if they already happened. Not by striving or hoping or wishing.
Your ability to imagine is the most powerful force you have.
Isn’t it amazing?
The Good that You Do
Why do you create?
There are as many answers as there are artists. Ultimately, most of us want to inspire a reaction in a viewer or reader.
What reaction do you want to inspire in others?
I’m not talking about whether someone likes or dislikes your work; or critics, reviews, or sales.
I’m talking about the emotional, soul reaction they have. How they will feel after viewing or reading your work.
We don’t spend a lot of time thinking about this, do we? We create because it seems to flow so naturally to us – it’s simply part of who we are. We can’t imagine not creating. But the question deserves some space in our lives. And space in every new work.
When your work goes public, this question becomes essential.
As an artist, you make choices. You have the power, if not to decide what your work will be, then to shape and guide it. I know that much of the creative work we do is given to us by Something Greater that wants to flow and speak and express itself through us. We don’t usually feel as if we have a choice in what our creative work is.
But the energies of your work, the reaction it inspires in a human heart and soul – that is where we do need to pause and think.
We have incredible power and I believe, responsibility.
We have the power to move the human heart toward healing, connection and hope. Or not.
Our work is capable of making someone stop and think, of inspiring someone to make a different choice, to believe or take one thought toward remembering their own power in this life. We have the ability to evoke joy, beauty, a sense of grace and wonder. And, in our darker sides, to release questions that are allowed to bubble to the surface. Questions that may not have been asked if it were not for our work.
I’m not advocating that all creative work has to be beautiful or have a moral point. That is not the question. I am advocating that we stop and think and become aware of the power and responsibility we have toward our viewers and readers. They may tend to take our work for granted as entertainment. They may not be aware of the affect that that entertainment can have on them. But they do know when they’ve been touched.
So why not touch them?
Your work has the potential to do something incredible. Even if it’s only in one viewer or one reader’s heart. And isn’t one heart worth a million?
creative inside out 