Many artists carry around ideas and beliefs that don’t serve us, and which actually often don’t even feel like beliefs. Instead, they feel like established facts. It’s only when we recognise the problem, that we can start to challenge the thoughts that are preventing our next move - and replace them with something more effective.
We discuss some of the more common limiting beliefs held by artists - things like “there are too many artists,” “I’ll never be good enough,” “there’s no money in art,” or “the place I live is no good for selling art.” We also share some of our own limiting beliefs and discuss the strategies we have used to overcome them, including EFT, hypnosis, talking with friends, and learning new ways to approach our thoughts.
Alice points out that a belief is just a thought that you keep thinking and suggests a step-by-step approach to shift through any unhelpful belief.
1. Identify a belief that is keeping you stuck or small. Observe it gently, become aware of it and how it is keeping you held back. Thank it for the opportunity to bust it open.
2. Acknowledge the truth within your belief and then ask yourself: "Is this belief ultimately true for me?" Gather all the evidence to prove why it doesn't have to be true (like pouring water on a fire).
3. Write a new story and adopt this as your new, more supportive belief.
4. Use affirmations to reinforce the story (although Alice points out that you need to believe them!)
Even if you replace all your current limiting beliefs, new ones may arise to take their place, but we both feel that having a process to deal with them is the key to ongoing success.
We also answer a listener question about whether it's appropriate to announce sales with social media posts or red dots. We both agree on this one - communicating our success is a key part of presenting ourselves effectively to the outside world and there is nothing to be ashamed or feel icky about. But we also agree that humility is important to balance the success stories …. There’s nothing more annoying that someone who presents a relentlessly perfect image!
Finally, we've both been inspired by meeting people . A visit from a Canadian artist friend got Alice's creative juices flowing, and Louise was energised by meeting blog readers and podcast listeners in person.
Mentioned
The Work of Byron Katie
Susan Sakamoto
Follow us on Instagram
@alicesheridanstudio
@louisefletcher_art
Credits
"Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
