Dancing with Curiosity
A space where truth can unfold
Curiosity invites you to a lively dance every time you try something creative! Its hand stretches out toward you, beckoning.
It whispers “Let’s see what happens when we try …”
It could be something unexpected.
It might be something unplanned.
But it is always risky.
The only guarantee is that it will be risky.
But risky in a good way.
Learning to trust your brush and embrace your antagonists is required for the journey. And just as essential, is growing comfortable with risk.
Risk is uncomfortable because it is like learning a foreign language. Sadly, the language of my intuition is foreign to me because I have turned a deaf ear to its wisdom for so long.
Risk is uncomfortable because it bumps up against my thinking that I’m in control. In reality, there is little I control other than choosing whether and when to show up to my practice. Thinking I’m in control is an exercise in self-deception, one that suffocates any unexpected turns and shuts down all side trips.
Risk is uncomfortable because it could lead to failure. Egads! What is your relationship with failure? Most of us were raised to avoid failure at all costs.
When I waste energy in the story that my worth as a human is tied to what I produce in my studio, then failure feels fatal. But if I reject the story my inner capitalist tells me, and choose to believe that I am inherently worthy, then I can reframe failure as information.
If you are really doing the work, you would have a stack of paintings as evidence, and some of them would be ugly. But in the process of making that big stack, you would trip over what you love and what brings you joy. That is good information that’s worth the risk.
Dance with Curiosity: Curiosity is the opposite of certainty on the risk tolerance spectrum. Where is the fun in knowing exactly how a creative adventure will turn out?
“One of the most enjoyable experiences for any human is the process of playing with ideas which results in the discovery of something new.” -- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Encourage the unfolding of Intuition: The creative process gives your intuition a place to speak up, to be heard, and to come out to play. Have you ever asked a painting what it needs next? What color should the hair be on a portrait? What texture on a figure’s clothing would be best?
When I start out with a detailed agenda of where I want my painting to go, I become too tight, overworking the last bit of energy out of it, all because I’m determined to make it look like the image in my head. I’m still exploring how to let my institution drive. I’m still learning to trust my brush!
Engage with Authenticity: Art is a place to express what is deepest within you. If you feel that your art is a calling, creating with authenticity is how you answer that call. Art is a place to communicate with that divine force that is bigger than you. Art is a place to drop all pretenses and masks, and call up your truth for the world that is being suffocated by baldfaced lies and artificial intelligence. Speaking your truth through your art gives other creatives permission to speak their truth.
“Art opens a space where truth can unfold.” -- Enrique Martinez Celaya, Tending The Fire: Creativity, Purpose and the Unfolding Self, with James Hollis
There is a great need in our world to allow the truth to unfold.
Are you willing to take the risk to tell your truth?
Are you ready to dance with your curiosity away from the certainty of predetermined outcomes into a world of mystery?
It is time!