by Tara Joyce | Sep 25, 2014 | Cultural Creativity
The flow doesn’t arrive until you break past your barrier. Your barrier appears as that “thing” you feel prevents you from starting. And that “thing” is the part of you that resists the activity, that says you can’t do it. You can.
Once you start, despite this feeling of being blocked and unable, you will find your groove. You will get into your flow. Once you’re in it, from there, it becomes hard to stop.
Our flow feels so good that we can begin desiring it non-stop, without realizing that without our wane, our time of reflecting and in-action, our flow would be of little value. We need both growth and fallow. Wax and wane.
This is the wonderfully contrasting experience of dancing with our flow — it’s hard to start and hard to stop.
photo credit: malavoda
by Tara Joyce | Sep 19, 2014 | Cultural Creativity, Innerpreneurship
Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they’re finished.” – Daniel Gilbert (@DanTGilbert)
You’ve got plenty of room to grow. We all do. No matter our position, we are each a work in progress. We are doing it badly until we are doing it well. The real point is that we are doing it at all.
Your feedback can help me to do it better though. To do so, your feedback does not need to be complimentary but it does need to be respectful and acknowledge that I am a work in progress. I am complete in my imperfection.
Human beings are creators and we need to acknowledge and respect the unique creative process each of us has. And our individual journey to (re)discover it. Like you, I am in the process of creating myself and becoming takes space. So let’s do ourselves a favour and remember that it’s hardly ever a finished product we’re providing feedback on, rather we’re perceiving something or someone still in the process of becoming.
photo credit: Kevan
by Tara Joyce | Sep 12, 2014 | Cultural Creativity
Do you notice the way it feels to leave the world you’ve worked so hard to create — here and now — for some idea of who you think you should be?
In those moments, what is it that you’re grasping for? Do you feel overwhelmed by a desire to be more, to do more, to have more? I know I do.
When we’re feeling less than, we’re in the midst of a painful conflict between being more and being who we are. It’s only in returning to the present moment and ourselves that we again trust in our innate ability to be grounded. Simply no larger or smaller than we naturally are.
photo credit: Sagisen
by Tara Joyce | Sep 8, 2014 | Cultural Creativity
For the sake of my personal and business health, I must not get caught up in the now, Now, NOW-ness of anyone or anything else. It doesn’t need to be NOW. I don’t need to hurry. Despite what I hear, and how I (sometimes) feel, there is no race to get to where I’m going. There is only NOW. There is only this space I currently find myself in.
I do my best when moving at my pace — at the speed and energy that pleases and works for me. The rest of the world can have their pace, and I can remain confident in mine. For the truth is, I have all the time and space I need. There is no race in becoming the best me.
photo credit: David Blackwell
by Tara Joyce | Aug 29, 2014 | Cultural Creativity
People will always have their opinions. And some of them may be about you, and about your work.
An opinion is simply one person’s point of view, one person’s way of seeing things. It’s no stronger or weaker than any another perspective. It’s no more true or false. It’s simply one person’s judgement. Nothing more.
It’s the way in which one delivers their opinion and why, that allows their perspective to hold more weight or less. How do you deliver your perspective? And why do you present it? Within these answers lies the true value of the opinion.
Not everyone needs to like you, or your work. You need to like you, and your work. You need to be proud of what you accomplish and create for yourself. In holding this space, in honouring the value of your contributions and growth, you can see more clearly the value (or lack thereof) of another’s opinion.
The people who judge and criticize can and will. Because they need to — in the same way you need to create. That’s their stuff. And it has nothing to do with you, or your work. It’s their stuff when they need to highlight the embarrassment of others expressions. It’s their stuff when they demean those who are vulnerable enough to reveal themselves completely. The amount of truth and value that lies in their perspective is yours to determine.
The people who praise and support can and will. Because they need to — in the same way you need to create, and others need to criticize. Similarly, the amount of truth and value that lies in their perspective is yours to determine.
You make the choice to be who you are, to take risks, to be vulnerable and expressive, and you get to choose how you want to process and respond to the opinions’ others may have of this choice. Positive, neutral, and/or negative. With every opinion you receive, YOU have the power to determine the importance you give to it, and the person presenting it. All opinions are not created equal.
photo credit: Ahdieh Ashrafi
