When Butterflies And Rainbows Just Aren’t Enough

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There’s an fascinating type of resistance that commonly exhibits up in my intuitive portray lessons that individuals don’t truly acknowledge as resistance. And it seems to be like this.

What we encourage our college students to observe as they’re portray is their full vary of aliveness. However plenty of people outline aliveness as one thing that’s ONLY constructive. Or pleasurable. Or upbeat. This frequent strategy to creativity views artwork making as one thing that’s presupposed to make them really feel good always. And what they name feeling good is commonly a type of avoidance.

They wish to really feel calm. They wish to really feel peaceable. They wish to be within the circulation. However not the category 5 rapids circulation. They don’t need their artistic course of to shake them up. In any respect. And they’re typically making an attempt to make use of their artwork as a temper altering expertise like having a Margarita. They’re desperately hoping that their artwork will preserve them from what they’re really feeling if these emotions are uncomfortable.

Now I simply wish to say that this want for pleasure or pleasure or a regulated nervous system is a longing all of us share. This hope that your artwork making will convey you to a spot of internal serenity isn’t a nasty factor to need. It’s additionally one thing that’s completely attainable.

And, sadly it’s typically a frustratingly troublesome emotional state to attain.

It’s troublesome due to how we strategy this want to really feel good and linked to ourselves. We lose our connection to that longed for state of being as a result of we have been taught the completely unsuitable method to get there.

We expect we are able to MAKE ourselves pleased and calm by solely placing pleased and calm issues in our work. We expect if we ignore our misery and discomfort, push all these tougher emotions apart and simply concentrate on love and light-weight and seascapes and flowers that we are going to paint our means into Nirvana. Or at the very least right into a tiny little bit of tranquility.

However what typically occurs as an alternative is that we get increasingly more annoyed as these emotions of ease and being centered change into ever extra elusive by utilizing this paint pleased approach. After which portray is now not any enjoyable.

I name this the Unicorn Syndrome. Typically when my college students are confronted with expressing tougher emotions as they paint they may take a look at me in nice misery and say “ However all I actually wish to do is to color unicorns and glitter”, in a loud and whiny tone of voice. As if that can magically transport them to a spot the place they’re now not feeling what they’re making an attempt to keep away from.

Figuring out full effectively that I’ll ALWAYS encourage them to go in direction of what’s most actual and alive for them in that second. Regardless of how uncomfortable that realness could also be.

So I wished to share somewhat story and an instance of how that unicorn strategy can typically be the precise reverse of what you want.

Certainly one of my college students was portray her model of the unicorn syndrome with rainbows and butterflies as a result of she wished to really feel good and pleased and free. She’d been going by a tough patch in her life and hoped that the portray may give her a reprieve from a few of the onerous stuff.

However the extra she painted butterflies the extra depressing she grew to become. She was achey in her physique. There was a pounding in her head. She was annoyed and cranky. And she or he saved taking a look at her watch and questioning when this nightmare of a category was going to be over.

She didn’t perceive why her fairly portray wasn’t working. Once I talked along with her I urged that as an alternative of making an attempt to get away from the unhealthy emotions that she truly transfer in direction of the ickiness and permit it to return into her portray.

At first she checked out me like I used to be completely out of my thoughts and was simply desirous to torture her. However she had sufficient belief in me and the method that she was considerably prepared to present this strategy a attempt.

So she started portray black. And lightning bolts. And demons with enamel. The subsequent time I got here again to test in on her she was on FIRE! Shiny eyed. Energized. Totally engaged and completely alive.

I requested her what occurred and he or she mentioned that when she allowed herself to go in direction of the yucky emotions she obtained in contact with some anger that she had been making an attempt NOT to really feel. She was making an attempt to make herself really feel pleased. However the butterflies and rainbows simply made issues WORSE.

She was completely shocked that portray the “unhealthy” and forbidden emotions made her really feel so GOOD. And really joyful.

However that is what occurs if you inform the reality and permit your genuine vitality to be expressed creatively. Generally the butterflies and rainbows simply gained’t CUT it!

Power is vitality. There’s no good vitality. There’s no unhealthy vitality. There’s simply vitality that’s shifting. And vitality that’s caught. And shifting vitality at all times feels good. Identical to caught vitality at all times feels unhealthy.

So that is the factor you might want to try to keep in mind the following time you end up feeling blah about your unicorns. Cease making an attempt to drive pleased and simply give up to your fact… no matter which may be.

Belief that your instinct will lead you into the a part of your being that’s crying out to be expressed. That trustworthy expression at all times results in aliveness. And aliveness is its personal candy reward.