If you’re still reading this after seeing the “A” word in the title, then I commend you!
When the word “art” is spoken out loud, most folks get anxious, start panicking and immediately move into the “I’m not an artist” defense. Art being dismissed as something for kids.
Unless you’re a trained artist (or even if you are!), art can trigger feelings of inadequacy, fear, doubt, and “not good enough” stuff. It can open thoughts about how you suck and can’t do it, and shouldn’t even try, emerge. That’s for other people.
This uncomfortable experience parallels the experience of real life. Those moments when we feel not good enough, and like we can’t do it.
What is WILD art?
I have worked with children for almost 30 years and one of the things that always stood out was how naturally children migrated to art materials and quickly got to work. No thought. No apprehension. Just pure instinct and connection deep within themselves. The art was a beautiful expression of their world experience.
We all start out this way. Intuitively connected to ourselves and open to expressing ourselves with art. And then, somewhere along the way, we lose touch with that.
But we can find it again, through WILD art.
WILD art is art without thought. You’re not in your head thinking, over exercising your left brain. There is nothing to think about.
It’s art without worry about outcome. It’s not about what your art piece might look like, it’s about the process itself and the experience of expressing yourself freely. Without self-doubt or worry about it looking any particular way.
WILD art is about letting go, being free, having fun and learning to trust your inner wisdom and intuition. It’s a process that has intention, curiosity, and a sense of wonder about what might emerge on the page.
Lastly, WILD art is about having FUN and being playful. As adults, we spend WAY too much time in our heads, especially our analytical left brain where we can get trapped in the thinking hamster wheel. This disconnects us from our bodies, our sense of ourselves, and our inner knowing.
To make WILD art is to tap into that child energy and allow it to flow freely, playfully. It also connects us to our bodies, ourselves and helps us access our inner wisdom more easily.
How Does WILD Art Build Confidence?
1. It helps you let go of control. Why is that important? Because stress and anxiety create a false narrative that we have control. All the control. And we don’t. Not over many things. So, it sets you up to keep seeking control when there’s none there. I get tired just writing that.
2. You learn to trust yourself. By learning to let go, you tune into yourself and trust in whatever your insides want to express. The WILD art process supports you in learning to tune into your inner wisdom, trust yourself, and feel more empowered. It is a practice that you can extend to life and business.
3. You work through fear and self-doubt. Fear is a natural human emotion. You can’t get around it. But! What you can do is learn to work with it and through it so you can keep going, daring to take that next step towards what you want.
4. You get to feel a sense of accomplishment. As a brain and neuroscience geek, let me tell you how much your brain loves that. Our reward center gets activated when we complete something. This gives us more energy and motivation to keep going to do more.
Allowing yourself to be playful, have fun, let go and express yourself freely through WILD art making, helps you feel stronger and more empowered, making confidence flow with more ease.
WILD Woman Art Tip:
WILD Art Making!
Materials Recommended:
Multimedia paper
Paint Sticks or Paint
1. Take a deep breath and close your eyes. Connect to yourself and your body.
2. Notice any feelings of fear or doubt that emerge, any negative thoughts or unpleasant sensations coming up.
3. Choose any color that speaks to you and calls for you to grab.
4. Begin by making one simple line on the page. It can be straight or curved. Pause. Feel the commitment to the page. Notice how it feels to move through fear and land in an outcome, as simple as it may be.
5. Continue to move the paint in whatever way it wants to move. Remember, there’s no thought, no expectation, no outcome sought.
6. Repeat this with as many colors as you want until it feels complete to you.
7. Once complete, spend some time noticing how you feel, emotionally and in your body. Don’t judge or criticize your art. Allow it to inform you.
8. Use a journal to answer the following questions:
1. What was it like to let go and not expect an outcome?
2. What was it like to connect to your child self and have fun and be playful?
3. Can I commit to incorporating more WILD fun in the future?
Give yourself permission to experiment and notice how it feels to feel scared or intimidated by the art process, and then how it feels to move through that with the support of the art and come out the other side feeling accomplished and empowered.
Notice the parallel to life and extent the practice your everyday living. Practice noticing feeling afraid and then taking one small step of commitment. Just like the first mark on the page.
Using the WILD art process as a tool and resource will help you build confidence, feel more empowered and support you in moving forward with your goals and intentions. But, you’ll also have fun, get out of your head and into your wisdom, and live a life with more joy and purpose.
Myriam Martinez is a Women's Mental Wellbeing Coach, Creativity Mentor, Art Therapist, and stick figure artist based out of Northern California. She gently guides women to embrace their Woman-ity© and love themselves fiercely through the power of the creative process. Her calling in this life is to teach women the power and importance of putting themselves first, loving themselves fiercely, and tapping into their creativity in order to bring more happiness, success, and ease into their lives.
To learn more about Myriam click here: https://www.myriammartinezcoaching.com/
mental health for women, art, creativity, confidence, self-doubt, imposter syndrome, life coach