Your True Nature
This week, I’ve been taking an online 10-day art class. The course is designed to help us discover our true identity as artists. The teacher, Louise Fletcher, sets up exercises to get us out of our heads and encourages us to paint freely.
One of the assignments was to paint something ugly. That throws so many of the participants into a full-on tizzy. It fascinates me because so many people create something marvelous when painting something ‘ugly.’ Even though it is an artistic creation, they still feign that their paintings are ugly.
I have no problem making ugly paintings because I’m not schooled in art techniques. Often, when I paint, it is a total mess. Other times, something emerges that I like.
While I’m not an expert, writing and making art are part of my true nature. I’ve been on a journey to ‘find’ myself most of my life. What I was looking for was my true nature.
Over the years, I’ve done things against my inner knowing, taken jobs when my intuition warned me against them, and done things I ‘should’ do, even though I didn’t want to. My true nature would peek out from the mask when I made time for something creative, but I never gave it too much thought or credence. Throughout those years, I often set aside my true nature for who I thought I was or should be. I measured myself against other entrepreneurs and their actions. The truth that I’ve found is that I am different. I see things that other people don’t see. I am removing masks.
What can mask your True Nature?
We don’t intend to live outside of our true nature. Family and society start directing us the minute we are born. Without a guide or a meditation practice, or in the absence of a concrete talent that develops early, we drift where we are blown. Life experiences, school, the news, work, and friends shape us.
