Art In A Crisis!

When a life crisis hits, many creative people instinctively turn towards their art. Sometimes they can experience a manic surge of artistic activity, creating large bodies of work within a short time-frame. For many artists, life's misadventures can help build creativity and dedication. So what's the drive?

Celluloid by Tania Rose

 Friends and family sometimes find it difficult to witness a creative loved-one disappear into their world of art, assuming that they are using it to "escape the truth", or "ignore" those around them. But often there is something more going on. Many artists first discover their need for creating art through a negative experience, or a sudden change of circumstances. If they were lucky enough to have discovered it from a young age, their art may be the only reliable constant in their lives they feel they have control over.

Professionals in medicine are now beginning to understand how powerful creativity is in promoting healing and good mental health during times of crisis. through art, we can express things that cannot be said, cannot be changed, or cannot be understood. It also infuses a sense of empowerment and strength, and the process offers a place to purge and analyse oneself and try and make sense of the world around us.

So next time your artist locks themselves away and goes crazy with the art, think of it as a GOOD thing, They might just emerge a stronger and healthier person.

You Have A Choice

When it comes to our communities, one of the most biggest concerns i have, is that people generally seem to think they don't have a choice. They feel trapped in by circumstances. They feel they can't make the changes in their life because life makes it impossible. "I CAN'T do my art because i have to work to get an income", "I HAVE NO CHOICE but to put my child in childcare, even though at the end of the day i'm only $50 better off", "I CAN'T be successful, because no-one will give me any opportunities". These are very real beliefs, with real feelings attached, and real people suffering as a result. So, are the right? Do we really have a choice?

I heard a great talk recently about work/life balance by Nigel Marsh on TED . It points out the obvious, that many people work long hours in jobs they hate to have money to buy things they don't need, to impress people they don't like. Sounds crazy, and it is, yet so many peeps find themselves in this lifestyle. Imagine if we could do things we are really good at, get paid for it, and spend more time with family and friends? Is it possible? it certainly used to be. In fact, only decades ago, a shoemaker HAD to be very good and passionate in their work in order to make a living in a small community. Carpenters needed to make things well and take pride in their work, otherwise houses would fall down, furniture would break, and he would fast run out of business. So what's changed?

Today we're surrounded by lies. These days, many businesses are concerned with covering their arse, because someone may sue them for doing a dodgy job. It's often about people trying to con their way "up the corporate ladder" to get more money to buy more expensive stuff (yes, i'm cynical, i know). It's about women leaving their babies with strangers so they can go back to work, so they can afford to put fuel in their guzzling 4WDs (SUV's) that they bought on credit for very odd reasons. And it's all based on the lie that THIS is success. More money = a better life. Try telling that to the kid, who never sees his dad because he works 6 days a week, always comes home after bedtime, and is grumpy on his day off because he is so wrecked from his job that at home he lives on a knife-edge. Try telling that to the daughter who wont learn to cook, because her working mother is so exhausted, she can only prepare pre-made dinners. Try telling that to the toddler who gets so used to having to trust everyone as she's bundled about, that she'll happily follow a stranger just because they smiled at her.

I can hear the angry mob brewing. Perhaps it's hard to take because it's true. It's hard to hear it, because most of them believe that life HAS to be this way. No choice = no change. People grow up thinking it's normal to hate their job, despise work, get frustrated with their relationship, and have no time for their family. But there are ways. No-one can change it for you. There is no wonder-plan, but if you are real enough about making some serious changes, then you can.

The most important thing about being able to change, is believing you can be empowered enough to do it. Once this idea becomes a BELIEF, you will automatically make choices which reflect that belief. It might start off small, by negotiating one day a week off, for you to spend some quality time pursuing something you love. Happier people work better, have better health, a better to live with, make batter parents, which in turn make better children. Happiness breeds happiness.

If you'd rather be doing something else, shouldn't you do something about it? And if you're not going to do anything about it, you'd be much better off starting to get happy about being where you are.

My Work, My Nakendness

Songwriters sometimes describe performing their songs on stage as akin to standing in front of a crowd, stark naked. When you've created something it can be like that...like you're revealing yourself, exposing all your vulnerabilities, all your weaknesses, your secret desires, and your pain.

Sometimes this is because it's out of those things that our art is created. There are times when our pain gives birth to inspiration, or our vulnerability makes way for an expression of inner strength. But there is also the secrets, the stuff that is unconscious. The knowledge that someone might interpret our work and expose something we didn't even know about ourselves. Like the painter who creates random abstract paintings, only to discover that viewers see more than was intended.

The fear of revealing oneself is something the creative mind deals with every time they show their work to a friend, a family member, or an audience. In fact, the fear of one can far outweigh the fear of the many. I remember feeling extremely uncomfortable with revealing my music to my family more than to a venue full of people. And the individuals i chose to show my works to were selected not only with great deliberation, but also via their placement in time. Sometimes there would be only a window of a couple of days where i was willing to share, and if the right person wasn't around to listen...

But it's not just the uncomfortableness of oneself. Creative people are often extremely sensitive to the feelings of others. So imagine sharing something with someone, but not wanting to put them on the spot in any way that would make them awkward to offer any kind of feedback. This is something often overlooked. Artists generally want honesty. Of course they don't want to be hurt, but they don't want to hear Uncle John say "hey, i like that" just because he might feel he's expected to say that. They don't want pandering, though they do want encouragement. It can get complicated.

My mother is my biggest critic. I know that she loves that i write music, but she is careful not to show too much enthusiasm. This i sometimes interpret as indifference, which i used to find very challenging. She is honest with her own taste in music, telling me in no uncertain terms when she can't stand to listen to one of my pieces, or when it's "alright, i guess". It's complicated because she is my mother, and i want her to show a mountain of pride, and lashings of support, but i admire her honesty. She will tell me straight out that the CD artwork is completely the wrong colour for the music and that she finds a sound irritating, but i lean on the knowledge that she is trying to be helpful and truthful, and not mollycoddle me, and as such i only show her pieces that are near completion. Because i know that the complicatedness of our relationship will become too great an influence, and i would find myself changing things to suit her and not myself.

Art is from the heart, whether it's an awareness or a subconscious influence. It's endless possibilities make it a difficult birth process at times. Revealing oneself confidently, warts and all, doesn't come with the job. It's because of our vulnerability that we can create, so to reveal ourselves takes practice, patience, and a lot of gritting of teeth. It's a skill that must be learnt, like on-the-job-training. It's the hardest thing, yet is imperative if we are to share our talents. It's bracing for impact, crumpling in an emotional heap, lashing out with bitterness and anger, cowering with angst and uncertainly, putting on armour and challenging any opponent. It's all of this and more.

We are what we are, and we do what we do. We're not really eccentric. Just creative minds, with a need to explore.

Fear & Excitement: same?

Performers, like myself, spend a lot of time in potentially nervous situations. Standing in front of a crowd who hang on everything you deliver is pretty intense, and in the studio you have an extremely short time slot to come up with some kind of magical essence that will move people. Those who perceive this as a positive experience can do it over and over again. Those who see it negatively will most likely crash and burn (as many creative people do). The pressure can be immense, but there is one simple thing that can make all the difference to anyone who finds themselves in a nervous situation...the perception of fear and excitement.

Your heart races, you feel butterflies flapping wildly in your gut, your breathing intensifies, you feel a sense of heightened sensitivity as your eyes widen and you limbs quiver with anticipation. Fear or excitement? It's both. The only difference between fear and excitement is the way you think about it.

Teaching singers to deal with nervousness is something i really enjoy, because i like a good mind challenge. Most of the things that get in our way are to do with how we look at things, ourselves, and situations, and there's a real sense of satisfaction when a performer can break through a hurdle having met the challenge head-on...literally. So lets look at the example of 2 singers waiting for an audition.

Sally is nervous. That's what she's been telling herself all day ("God, I'm sooo nervous. I wish i wasn't nervous. I can't handle this nervousness!"). She sits in the waiting area to be called, wringing her hands, trying to breath in and out like her mum used to tell her before the school play would start as a kid). She's is trying to relax, tries to distract herself from even thinking about her cold hands and her body's shaking by disengaging from the whole idea. "Don't think about it", she tells herself. "Think about other things". She withdraws within herself in an attempt to escape.

Jen is also waiting to be called in. She's been bubbling over most of the day. She was so excited this morning that she went for a short run before she got ready, just to settle herself. She's been thinking about the audition all day, humming out her songs to herself, playing it over in her mind as her butterflies flutter away in her stomach, but she's been telling herself "I'm soooooo excited! This is going to be so great. I'm so lucky to be here!". She didn't believe herself at first, tempted to called it "nerves", but she resisted. In the waiting area she feels the excitement level increasing. She paces the floor, bouncing on the spot every now and then to discharge her adrenaline, and keeps herself focused an in a positive state of mind. Her body is doing the same things that Sally's is, but Jen keeps moving and keeps up her positive mind speak.

The two have totally different experiences with their audition. Sally has spent so much of her time trying to distance herself from thinking about the audition, that she appears disinterested in it. She has been trying to keep her body so still by attempting to relax, that as soon as she goes to sing, her cells fire up from the build-up of chemicals and she loses vocal control. She gets really down on herself and has given up before she's even half-way through. She leaves in tears, gutted by another sense of failure.

Jan bounds in to the room, and her energy is immediately obvious. She's been releasing her adrenaline all day, so she maintains a lot of vocal control. She brings to her audition a sense of excitement and passion, and though she makes mistakes, she keeps positive and moves on, so well in fact that some of the panel don't even notice her errors. She leaves with a feeling of success.

The flight-or-fight response is our body's way of preparing us for engagement. Whether you call it excitement or nervousness, it's the same physical thing. Chemicals get released into our cells to prepare them with optimum power and strength, and are there to save your life. One of the mistakes people make when they have these feelings is to try and calm them down, but our body is geared up for battle, not for meditation.

If you focus instead on releasing the pressure physically (jump up and down, run around the block, etc), and tell yourself over and over how excited you are (even if at first you don't believe it), you can make a huge difference to your experience. You can then learn to USE that amazing zing and turn it into an opportunity to deliver in a way you can't when you're in your comfort zone. Harnessing this energy instead of denying it can turn a good delivery into something quite remarkable.

Are fear and excitement the same? Try it out for yourself, and you be the judge.

The Art of ones life

Creative minds get inspired essentially because of what happens in their lives. It comes from an experience, a happening, a realisation, an experiement. It's a simple equation. A+B=C.

We all create our lifes based on our experience, regardless of whether we persue a creative outlet or not. We base daily decisions on our lives by such things as how much money we have in our pocket (shall i take the train or drive today?), how we feel about people (yikes! i don't want to bump into him!), and our attitudes (I love doing this!). And these perspectives were themselves born out of experiences and earlier perspectives, which in turn came from earlier ones, etc.

Some people make a living out of helping people trace back those steps to identify significant events in their lives...but what about those stepping stones ahead? If you look to the past, it becomes clear that your own choices lead you down your path, and so it makes sense that the choices you make now and tomorrow will create a new path into the future.

So, let's experiment.

How about changing one specific choice for one week, and see what happens to you, how you feel, and what your experiences are. It might be a complete change in dress style, listening to completely different music than your normally would, or hanging out with people you wouldn't normally speak to. The key to the exercise is that it needs to be a significant change, and one that will most likely redirect you for that week. You might be surprised at what happens.

Ok, what's the point? Well, our lives are a bit like a sculpture, each experience chipping away at our present self, and shaping our future self. Many people underestimate how much control they have in this somewhat artistic process. Some artists like to do these kind of experiements often, to keep their experiences and perspective fresh. I often read stories of how creative people came to do their projects, and it makes for facsinating reading.

Maybe after your week, you might have something facsinating to tell aswell.

Too Good To Be True

Recently i've tried to give away a random CD to a random person.
By saying that i have tried i mean it literally. People are often suspicious of you offering something for nothing, out of the blue. They suspect there's a catch.

So i've been trying to give away a cd, and it has proved to be very trying indeed. Has marketing and consumerism sucked the life out of the power of a random act of kindness? Is it too much to take in that someone just might give you something because they can? Don't people believe in karma or serendipity anymore?

Try it yourself. I hope you have better luck than me. I DO live in the hope that we can beat this negativity by more of us offering random acts of kindness in our day to day lives. It doesn't have to be much. Just opening a door for a mother and her children, offering your good shopping trolley to the elderly person who is struggling with their runaway, or offering some of you homegrown tomatoes to your neighbour. It really is as much a joy for the giver as it is for the person who embraces your kindness.

Meditations have Arrived

It's proving to big a big year.
I have just finished recording FEATHERS BREATH, which holds a special place in my heart. It's the first public recording i have made without any electronic instrumentation of any kind. It happened out of the blue, without plan, without thought. In a few days it will arrive, and i am sooo excited.

Talking about an arrival...The SECRET HEALING CD arrived a few weeks ago. Here is is fresh out of the box...


I can hardly keep up with things at the moment. The CD went berserk in the first week, which is why i haven't even written a post here yet to let you know it's arrived!!

It's all a bit daunting when i'm waiting for the first run of a cd. I get a bit scared of how the artwork will print, and wonder if the recording will live up to expectations. It's all the paranoid stuff that creeps it's way into my psyche. I usually distract myself while i'm waiting by launching myself into other projects...but the wait alwasys seems endless...2 weeks feels like months.

I'm very humbled by so much support, and do apologize this news isn't hot off the press. Don't worry, for those of you hanging out for these meditations, we have plenty of them, and will keep plenty of stock in reserve.



If you click Secret Healing CD album cover, it will take you straight to our Artscope Music ebay store. I promise to be more prompt with giving you the heads-up when Feather's Breath arrives.

Smiles to all of you for your generous support, and wonderful emails.

I remain your biggest fan...

INSPIRATION & how do we get some...

Recently (thank you RedBubble ) i was encouraged to write about the topic INSPIRATION. It's the beginning of a new year, so there's a lot of it going around...that is to say, a lot of people seeking it.

Whether you're trying to get inspired to get off the couch, change your behaviour, or in any way tweek a better YOU, inspiration is a key factor which can turn the whole experience from being a hard slog into an effortless Awakening.

So how do we get some? Is it just about being motivated? We'll motivation is one thing. For example,i might be really motivated to write a great new song, but i need to feel inspired in order to achieve it. It's feeling the passion, the buzz of the moment, and everything seemingly coming together in an effortless moment of clarity!

The word INSPIRATION actually means "TO BREATHE IN", and essentially that's the easiest way to explain in. So, let's feel some and get it buzzing...

TRY THIS EXERCISE
Just for 1 minute, close your eyes and imagine the love you have felt for a person, place, thing, or a time when you felt rapturous inspiration (nothing that might make you sad). Really indulge in the physical feelings it brings. 1 minute...then read on...

...OK, try and explain it in words on paper. Use brief phrases rather than just single words, like "the swelling of a red balloon about to burst" or "a buzzing feeling starting under my teeth", etc. Write as many as you can, and really try and tap into the physical feelings of that love, that passion, then read on...

Now take the best 3 phrases. Say your favorite to yourself followed by a big, deep breath in. Say the 2nd, followed by a big *sigh*. Say the 3rd, and feel those feelings welling inside you, swiling about in a giant vortex, that's growing bigger than even you. How do you feel? Good? Better than before?

OK, stick each phrase in places where you need inspiration. Example, the fridge, your screen, your bathroom mirror...the best places are the ones where you find yourself LACKING in inspiration. These are your new affirmations; reminders of the FEELINGS of inspiration. When you see them, breathe in and tap into those physical responses to being inspired. Close your eyes if you like, then (once you feel the vibes), think about the subject you WANT to feel inspired about (i.e. becoming healthier, creating a masterpiece, ...insert yours here...).

Inspiration can be "triggered" by many things, but the reality is that the feeling actually comes from within. And as mushy as it sound, it's all about LOVE baby! Love within you, exuding outwards. And, it's all about the POTENTIAL of love. The possibilities of your expression of love...love for yourself, love to the world, love to a higher plane.

And to wrap up with a few musical anecdotes:

Love is ALL you need
Love is IN THE AIR
How deep is YOUR love?
LOVE...will find a way
and last but not least..
CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE

smiles to you!