Creative Genius 07 - Pamela Bates: The Importance of Radical Rest within the Creative Process
“If you don’t believe in yourself, prove yourself wrong” - Pamela Bates
After 23 years of her creativity getting lost in client expectations working in PR and doing too much to take care of others and not enough to take care of herself in her personal life, Pamela found herself utterly burned out. That is when her sister took her on a restorative weekend trip to Boston where the two of them visited the Gardiner Museum. Pamela shares the story of how life dramatically grabbed her attention with an electrifying, life-changing experience that she says was the beginning of her now flourishing career as a painter.
Pamela shares the importance of tuning into and remaining open to the quiet voice deep inside as it has all the information we need to find our own callings. And how crucial rest and quiet are for supporting our ability to tune in. We are trained to go go go. We need to retrain ourselves to be quiet. She shares her theories about Radical Rest.
Humans hold themselves back on this quest for perfection, which is utterly pointless and unattainable. The magic resides in letting go. When we hold something too dear, it tends to get in the way. Listen to her terrifying advice on what we should practice in our art to help us really learn about the magic of letting go. Don't let anything be too precious or it will jam you up.
Many artists are bent on “finding their voice” Pamela urges us to stop trying so hard to find it, and instead become curious about what is already there waiting for you to stop being in charge. What you’ll find, she says, is that you already have the special magic thing you are looking for, it is you.
The only way to access that deep well of creativity is to paint, paint, paint. Daily practice is more important than anything else you can do: the act of painting will connect you to the thing you are looking for. There is no other way to find that than to just do it.
Trust yourself. Focus on the need to create. Stop looking outside for validation. The desire to create is itself, the map.
You have to be working for the magic to happen, so get busy.
The painting that jolted the painter in Pamela to wake up El Jaleo - by John Singer Sargent 1882