CHR I S T I N E SO J O
This is what artists do, they notice things, they observed and process. As I became more comfortable putting marks on the page, I began to see myself and I began to be more comfortable with myself. Now I love to encourage others to make their mark, to experiment with art supplies, to go back to that young person who loved to paint or doodle or make play-dough spaghetti. That little girl is still inside and becoming sober and reigniting creativity is about coming home to ourselves, who we have always been, before society and culture and education and jobs and life got ahold of us. In our creativity we can be seen, even if just by ourselves, heard and valued, and that’s really all we need. We can transition from surviving life to thriving, to creating new ways of seeing and doing things. We can reimagine what it means to be us. We can live life on our terms, we are meant to do more than contribute to the gross national product. Addiction, drinking, escaping, is fueled by the inner critic. The voice in our heads that tells us we’re not good enough, smart enough, thin enough...fill in the blank with your own personal version of these thoughts. We want to “get out of our heads” - so what’s going on in there? We will never be able to get out of our heads, the solution isn’t to try to escape, the solution is to become aware of what’s going on in there so that we can heal it. What’s going on in your head? Mine was telling me all sorts of unhelpful things piled up with anxiety about the future and regrets from the past. It was hard to tell what was real from what wasn’t. How do I know which voice to believe? When we connect to our creativity by putting marks on a page, we get a chance to hear those voices loud and clear. As our bodies are engaged in moving around the paint or drawing a simple line, we get up close and personal with that critic. “What are you doing this for? You’re not an artist? What’s the point of this? Shouldn’t you be doing something useful? This is ugly.” And we then get a chance to hear the voice and keep going anyway.
We can begin a dialogue with that inner critic. I hear you, you are afraid that I am going to embarrass myself. Well, that might or might not happen, but it won’t kill me. You are concerned that other responsibilities won’t happen if I spend my time on this, or that others who rely on me will be left to their own devices. Well, that may happen, but it won’t be the end of the world, and actually, I am having fun doing this. Making art is a kind of prayer. It’s a way to step into the unknown, to see what comes up and out. Following through on creative impulses builds trust with our soul. With spirit, with the essence of who we are. We begin to allow the quiet, small voice of truth to have a platform. Truth doesn’t yell or scream like the critic. It doesn’t have to because it knows it’s true. Truth can be found when we slow down and start creating a practice of communion, communicating with it. We give it a platform and we might even be brave enough eventually to show others what we made.
Instagram @sojachristine (Art Alchemy) Website: https://www.art-alchemy.com/ Programs at Art Alchemy https://www.art-alchemy.com/programs
| AUGUS T 202 1 • HOL A SOB E R |
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