THE POWER OF THE MIND

Vi Artist - 7/29/23

   Starting this first blog post at an interesting time in my life and career. Couple weeks ago, I broke my right wrist, my dominant art creating wrist. It’s been very challenging but also very rewarding in someways. Having time to reflect on my life, my career, my relationships, and my art. Sometimes taking time to do these things is really important, especially for someone that’s an artist and a very in-depth thinker. Even if you don’t have an injury or anything keeping you from having a moment of time where you just sit down and think about things. I invite you to try to make time for that after reading this.

  Whether it’s making time to sketch every day, making time to wake up and drink coffee in silence, meditating, or just thinking about your day. Think about your intentions for that day, or that week. I think we get so busy in our lives and in our relationships, that we forget to take that time for ourselves sometimes. When we forget to do that we’re unable to constructively create a schedule or healthy habits and behaviors for ourselves, and take power over our mind. The power of our mind is truly incredible. We have the ability to get mad outside of our comfort zone and not recognize ourselves. We also have the ability to be so loving, innocent, and pure that it’s almost as if we’ve never been hurt before. We have the ability to overcome things we never thought we could. Your mind has so much power. Take time to protect that power, put that power into something constructive rather than giving the power to things that drain or negatively absorb it. 

    When I hurt myself, I felt like a lot of things at one time were all falling on top of my head, and it was very difficult for me to take a breath, and take a moment to breathe. I feel like I gave a lot of power to the idea of things not working out and a lot of things falling through at one time. As things do and time heals, I ended up figuring everything out and now almost a month later I’m finally starting to be creative and putting that power and energy towards something constructive and positive. It’s completely OK to sometimes need the time to go through whatever you need to with yourself and get over things in your own time; but it’s always nice to remember that whatever you’re dealing with you will overcome. You have the power to deal with more than you think, and possibly a different way than you currently are. During this recovery time off my wrist, I had to let go of two large mural projects that I was counting on for the year, along with a couple side jobs that I counted on as well. It’s definitely been very hard on me dealing with an injury, when my mind is bursting with creativity. So I decided to figure out how to get it out!

    I named this blog the power of the mind because before starting this recent painting, I never would’ve imagined that I could paint anything with my left hand. Now this might be different for different people. I also have been doing everything with my left hand for about a month, so it’s been getting more comfortable holding things and staying steady. Starting this new painting, I had little to no expectations, and figured it would end up looking like an elementary schooler art piece. Although it’s not exactly what I could create with my right hand and it’s about a quarter of the pace that I can paint at. I’ve been very positively impressed with my piece so far. The photo above is my progress on the wildcat that I’m painting. Sitting down to paint I had to just let go of any expectations that I had of how I could paint or how I was going to achieve what I wanted to. I just had to trust my mind and my hand. Stepping away from my painting after moments or when I took breaks, I was starting to be very surprised by what I was creating. I truly feel I paint with my mind now and my hand is the tool. As I let all expectations and restraints I thought I had go. I just kept trying to focus with my mind, and trying to connect to my hand and create. Looking at this piece after I’ve been working on it for three days, I am honestly more shocked than I’ve ever been on how much the power of my mind really controls my art. I gave so much power to the idea it’s all in my hand, thinking that it was just my hand that held the talent. When I hurt my wrist, I was beyond devastated, I thought I could never paint the same; but realizing that the gift and that power is within me, is a beautiful epiphany. 

   So as I leave you with these thoughts today, I advise everyone to look at things through a different perspective and try to connect with understanding how strong your mind is, and that it’s the best and biggest tool that we have in creating a better life and mental state for ourselves. Whether you’re just starting out with Art. Whether you’re a professional that’s been a little disconnected from their art lately, or someone that is injured and struggles with motivation to keep creating. If you have the desire to create, connect that desire with the power of your mind, and let yourself create whatever you’re meant to create!