Episode 18: Understanding Yourself – The First Step to Creative Growth

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Watch this episode on our YouTube channel here.

There’s a compelling correlation between self-understanding and the artistic process. Today’s podcast episode dives into this concept, exploring how personal traits can profoundly influence creative growth.

Mama Judy explains how the first step towards unlocking our artistic potential lies in self-reflection. The importance of knowing oneself, one’s likes, dislikes, and individual quirks cannot be understated.

For instance, procrastination, often seen as a negative trait, can serve as a valuable tool for better artistic results. By recognizing and harnessing such characteristics, we can channel them into creating something unique and representative of our personality.

We also chat about how personal preferences guide artistic choices. The artistic medium we choose is often influenced by our comfort with certain mediums. A significant insight here is that understanding our own selves can lead us towards creating something beautiful. Questions like what stresses us about our creative practice or what we love about the creating process can help us understand our artistic practices better.

Here’s the deal… the more we understand ourselves and our art, the better our creative output will be. Whether it’s moving towards pleasure or away from pain, understanding our creative strengths and weaknesses can help us make better decisions and grow as artists.

This exploration of self-understanding in the artistic process offers a fresh perspective on creativity. It’s a journey worth embarking on, and we hope that you will join us on this insightful adventure.

We mentioned a few episodes during our chat today. Here are the links:
Watch episode 17 with artists Bee Sieburg and Molly Courcelle.
Listen here to episode 15 on the power of commitment to your art.
Listen to episode 12 here and episode 13 here where we talk about the power of accountability to be able to create art consistently.

Here are the questions Mama Judy posed during the podcast chat. We hope you can use them for your own self-exploration to enhance your creativity.

• What brings you joy?
• When you come up against something new or something you don’t know how to do the way you want to, what do you do at that point? (Quit, keep trying, research for help/tutorial, etc.)
• What do you like about creating?
• What stresses you about your creative practice?
• Why do you really want to create? (That’s a question that came from Molly Courcelle in episode 17. When we asked her why she created, Molly gave a phenomenal reason on why she was compelled to create.)
• What is it you really like about creating?
• Why do you do it/create?
• What did you love about the creating process as a child? Now, do you still have that in your practice?
• Do you like structure or are you more unstructured?
• Do you procrastinate or do you need to reach a daily goal?
• Do you give up easily or do you stick with something that is uncomfortable?
• Are there any fears that keep you from creating something you want?
• Do you have a mindful practice? Do you sit down and are you present at that time, in the moment, with a mindful approach to what you’re doing? Do you truly feel the emotions of what you’re going through when you create? Do you bring in extra sensory things to the experience?