Feeling anxiety knocking at your door but you don’t to answer it. Change your mindset think of your coping skills maybe say your mantra a few times. Remember anxiety only has the power that you give it. So do your best to ignore it and focus on the task at hand. What I mean is to write it down on a sticky note or in a notebook where you keep thoughts for other tasks that aren’t what you are current doing. Basically, telling your anxiety I will give attention to blah blah blah at this time.
Work on your hobbies or passions but the most important thing I’ve learned is not to dwell in the negative emotions. For me this means journaling or keeping my hands busy i.e. making art. If you like to color but you’re not too great at drawing, try coloring pages or color by number. I will give you an example I printed out this rose color by number and did swatches for the colors wanted to use. Then set a number by them and color it.
I not too long ago wrote a blog post about how the theories behind color by number coloring pages and how it does help with relaxation and calming the mind. I will give the link here if you want to expand more into the thought: https://cochranmarie8.wixsite.com/mariesart/home/a-letter-from-me-to-my-past-self-before-art-came-into-the-picture
Sometimes I will do a type of artist style mediation where pick a coloring page and I sit with a notebook next to me. As I am coloring if my brain wanders, I allow it to for a minute or so before I jot down the thought and then sat it back aside. This allows me to stay focused on the one task give it my attention instead of doing something else then feeling like it I need to rush and finish the task I first started.
As I have been learning to doing some self-therapy techniques, I have found that making art does a lot of good for me and the way my mind works. (THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU SHOULDN’T SEEK THEARPY IF YOU NEED IT. I have just found that I can manage my mental health by myself without needing a therapist and that’s my choice.) I really don’t always plan to go super deep with my life issues, but I feel as a person trying to use my experience both positive and negative a certain bit of transparency is needed.
This week I had a transformational moment as an artist. I sketched out this lotus flower in a landscape. I colored it and all of that. Once I finished it, I wasn’t 100% sure I though it was good. Then I thought about it for a few days and decided that not everything we as artists make is going to be something, we fall in love with at first sight. That doesn’t mean that someone else won’t love it and find it amazing or wonderful. This for me is a moment to learn to step outside of my comfort zone and let others have their opinion. So here I will share it with you.
Next project updates:
1.) I am planning on making a sketch book tour video.
2.) I planning to do an updated lotus flower video sometime in December.
3.) I working more on my book which won’t see the light of day for quit a while all though I might be making some exclusive emails and doing promotions for it outside of blog posts.
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xoxo, MariesArtEST2017