Sun's Up! Pastel over Watercolor
Success is a collection of problems solved”. I.M. Pei
The creative experience is a matter of turning our inner feelings into something interesting and exciting. Our job is to weave something new and wonderful out of the threads of our past knowledge, using our mind, our memory, and our experiences. Thus, in the course of creative endeavors, artists and others join fragments of knowledge into a new unity of understanding.
This does not always come easy. It is often fraught with obstacles, false starts, failures, and frustration. But, with each of these come more knowledge to learn from.
These obstacles we encounter provide us with a reality check on where we are so we can move forward, rewind, start over, or go in a new direction. We can’t allow ourselves to be blinded by the disappointment, that it keeps us from seeing the opportunities they provide.
These lessons we learn are priceless. They build strength and resilience. They drive us to move on and try something new. Having something not turn out the way we imagined, inspires creative solutions. Why? Because we try and find a different way of achieving our goal. We start to view things from another perspective.
With success, most people keep on doing the same thing. Constant success makes people complacent. When we fail or encounter an obstacle, we are forced to try a new approach, adapt, and change.
We should never underestimate the magical properties of failure or obstacles being in our way. They rewire our brain and gets the creative juices flowing. When we face the unknown, we are challenged to move forward in a new direction. We are filling our toolbox with an array of options.
It is probably safe to say that with every new project we start comes some obstacles. These obstacles typically manifest themselves as things we must figure new ways to handle.
“Obstacles don’t block out path, they are the path.” Zen Proverb
Our biggest challenge in life is overcoming adversity when something unexpected happens or things don't go the way we plan. But those are the moments that teach us who we are and who we can become.
The secret here is attitude. When we meet an obstacle, we cannot allow it to destroy the creative spirit. We need to see it as an opportunity. A learning experience. Obstacles are not telling us we can’t do something or that we failed at something, they are challenging us to come up with better way of doing it. They are forcing us to dig deeper into our creative spirit for new ways to express ourselves
We can’t let obstacles become creative saboteurs. They are GREAT BIG OPPORTUNITIES to get those creative juices going. They are all part of the self-discovery process as a creative being, living on the “Creative Path”.
Stay Safe, Carolyn
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