anxiety

How to overcome creative fear

July 17, 2021 by Darren Leave a Comment

How do you avoid the paralyzing effect of creative fear? How do you cope with facing the blank page? Join Dianne and me as we discuss these questions posted by one of our YouTube viewers.

For more of our creative discussions visit Dianne’s YouTube channel, you’ll also find some amazing mixed media, collage and ATC art there.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

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The real meaning of Advent?

December 1, 2020 by Darren Leave a Comment

advent noun
1 the arrival of a notable person or thing: the advent of television.
2 (Advent) the first season of the Church year, leading up to Christmas and including the four preceding Sundays.
Old English, from Latin adventus ‘arrival’, from advenire, from ad- ‘to’ + venire ‘come’.

Advent has arrived. Of course, there is a certain irony to think of a period that looks forward as something that is here now. But thoughts like that seem particularly poignant this year. Every month, or week, or moment, I have thought we have got somewhere, arrived, only to realise that things have not improved or changed.

Things are different.

Primarily because of the pandemic and partly due to my laziness, I haven’t got an advent candle this year. It’s the first time in several years I don’t have one. I have found great comfort in the moments spent meditating and contemplating ‘stuff’ each day as one number at a time melted away. I don’t need a numbered candle for that but every symbol helps and is a gentle reminder that there is more out there than my own personal bubble of fears, worries and concerns.

The pandemic has disrupted things. It has disrupted routines. It has disrupted structure and function and forms of living. Whether any of the things it has disrupted could be called normal is debatable, but what is certain is that our regular has been disrupted.

Back to my lack of a candle: disruption to my regular. It is easy to focus on the negative of this disruption. To focus on what I don’t have and what I can’t have. The challenge is to look forward.

To focus on the horizon
To the way ahead
To the vision of what will be and what is to come
To know that what I do now is paving my path ahead, strengthening the tunnel through all of this

I don’t have a candle. You may not have a candle, or struggle to find any light, but it is there. We can all hold on to a little hope, a little faith, a little miracle. Despite all that the virus and 2020 si throwing at us, there is hope and there is light. The tunnel may be of indeterminate length but it will have an end and as we travel along the light will brighten. This is Advent.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

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Welcome to September and patience

September 3, 2020 by Darren Leave a Comment

Welcome to September - a need for patience

And so we find ourselves in September. Well, I do, and I am assuming that you are too. Although this year has been full of the weird and out of the ordinary, so perhaps I am just here on my own. ‘Welcome to September’, I said as I looked at my junk journal and created the page above, and ‘welcome to a need for infinite patience’ a voice replied.

There are a few things I want to do. There are several reasons why those things can’t be done. All of the reasons are beyond my control. Welcome to my need for infinite patience.

The good thing about not being able to do certain things is that I can get on and do other things.

The challenge, as always, is to actually do them. I find it far too easy to let the issues I have no control over take up too much of my time. Worrying about something I can’t do anything about feels like my superpower at times. I like to think that it is down to my active imagination, which makes me a creative person. But when my imagination is engaged in worrying, I am anything but a creative machine. Anxiety can be a creative muse, especially for my songwriting, but it is also a creativity killer when it stops me in my tracks.

I need to be patient. And while I wait, I need to create and not let the worry and concern stop me. Watch this space.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest