by Intention InspiredWeek 3, Day 3 of The Artist's Way
Today, let's recognize how we've been wrongly shamed and how that affects our creative process.
SHAME
Those of us who get bogged down by fear before action are usually being sabotaged by an older enemy, shame.
Shame is a controlling device. Shaming someone is an attempt to prevent the person from behaving in a way that embarrasses us.
The act of making art exposes a society to itself. Art brings things to light. It illuminates us. It sheds light on our lingering darkness. It casts a beam into the heart of our own darkness and says, “See?”
Art opens the closets and airs out the sellers and attics. It brings healing. But before a wound can heal it must be seen, and this act of exposing the wound to air and light, the artist's act, is often reacted to with shaming.
For the artist who endured childhood shaming—over any form of neediness, type of exploration, any expectation—shame may kick in even without the aid of a shame–provoking review. If a child has ever been made to feel foolish for believing in himself or herself as talented, the act of actually finishing a piece of art will be fraught with internal shaming.
A lifetime of this experience, in which needs for recognition are routinely dishonored, teaches a young child that putting anything out for attention is a dangerous act.
Often we are wrongly shamed as creatives.
From this shaming, we learned that we are wrong to create. Once we learn this lesson, we forget it instantly. Buried under it doesn't matter, the shame lives on, waiting to attach itself to our new efforts. The very act of attempting to make art creates shame.
(The Artist's Way, 2016, p. 44 – 49)
There is no shame in my struggles.
download printable affirmation card
List five childhood accomplishments.
- straight A's in seventh grade
- trained the dog how to sit
- punched out the class bully
- short-sheeted the priest's bed
- night mission to secure popsicles from the neighbor's fridge
And a treat: list five favorite childhood foods. Buy yourself one of them this week. Yes, Jell-O with bananas is okay.
“We will discover the nature of our particular genius when we stop trying to conform to our own or to other people's models, learn to be ourselves, and allow our natural channel to open.”
– Shakti Gawain
What is one way you can nurture the parts of your artist child who has been shamed today?
We'd love to hear in the comments!
(1) Recognize the parts of me that have been shamed.
(2) Remember that I am whole, accepted, and perfectly imperfect just as I am.
(3) Ask those shamed parts what they would like to feel loved and connected.
(4) Nurture myself in those ways.