TOTAL ALIGNMENT :: Grounding

FEARLESS™ Painting is not about changing who you are.
It’s not about becoming some better version or embracing some shinier newer upgrade of you.

FEARLESS™ Painting is about dipping into the courage it takes to be exactly who you are–to paint how you paint–to express what is inside you with confidence–and to be self reliant as a creative being–knowing deeply that all the answers–all the Art–all the direction you need–lies inside your heart simply waiting for the moment to be born.

I said at the beginning of this week that an open heart never judges–never analyzes–never searches for meaning.  And that is true.  But our minds on the other hand are professionals at analyzing–judging–and spending loads of energy and time searching for meaning to every little nook and cranny of our experiences.

The mind is going to do what it’s going to do–and actually, analyzing, judging, and searching for meaning is not a bad thing.  It comes quite in handy–when, let’s say, you’re crossing a busy street, about to grab the handle of a pot that’s been in the oven, or when we are in situations that no longer serve us.  We very much so want our minds to be good at judging situations–analyzing our circumstances–and even finding meaning in things that are important to us.

But when it comes to staying in the flow–living from our heart–painting FEARLESS™—analyzing, judging, and searching for meaning become huge obstacles–huge road blocks even–and eventually the junky junk that keeps us from being in total alignment with creative source.

The key to painting (and living) FEARLESS™ is to, #1, be compassionate and kind.

Compassionate and kind to yourself.

Many of you, in knowing that you are to paint FEARLESS™ from an open heart–went to war with yourselves.  You added more guilt, more disappointment, more frustration to your pile of junky junk when you came to the painting all excited–and found that instantly your mind began to judge/analyze/search for meaning.  Maybe even some of you felt like a failure.

Be compassionate, dear FEARLESS™ Painter.  Be kind.

Just notice–that’s all you have to do.  Notice your mind’s behavior.  It took years and years and maybe even more years for it to gain these pesky little habits–and beating it into submission with how it should be is not going to help.  Beating yourself up for not being able to “do it” as well–is just as toxic to your spirit.  Simply be aware when your mind is doing it’s thing–and excuse it from this party.  Just gently tell your mind “Thank you, but I can take it from here.”  and then go on listening to your open heart.

You may find that once every minute your mind is chirping in.  Maybe even once every second–even micro-second.  That’s ok.

But don’t come at your mind with a blaze of fire and a pitch fork looking to fight it into submission.  Simply be aware and acknowledge what it is doing–but don’t buy it.

Keep on walking.

Or in our case FEARLESS™painting!

And remember most of all: this is a practice.  Something you keep working at baby step by baby step–and with even a tiny bit of time you’ll start to notice a difference.  You’ll start to notice that your mind has slowed down it’s crazy talk–that your fear gremlin has maybe even taken a vacay to Bermuda–and you are feeling more and more in the flow.

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Today is our last day of Total Alignment.  I want to thank each of you that participated and shared your FEARLESS™ painting awesomeness over on the Total Alignment Flickr group as well as on your own blogs.  I want you to know that next week ALL of the Total Alignment posts will be permanently kept on the Total Alignment page HERE on Dirty Footprints Studio–so please–take your time and keep sharing the goodness and know that you can work at your own pace and come back again and again.  Plus–the Flickr group will always be open as well.

Last, I am excited to share that next week I will be announcing my new FEARLESS™ Painting workshop: Inner Breath–so be sure to check back Monday for more information and a surprise!

Now, onto my final Total Alignment video of the series……

[vc_video link=’http://www.vimeo.com/27131919′]

BIG Hugs!! BIG Love!!