Movement

I am hypersensitive.  Not in the physical sense, but when it comes to emotion, personal interactions and especially criticism.  My gift and my curse is that I deeply feel all that comes my way.  My gift because I can usually “read” what is going on inside a person very quickly.  Empathy comes naturally and easily.  My curse because criticism and judgment (even if well placed) are exquisitely painful.  Over the years, I have learned to protect myself from the avalanche so much so that I am often told that I am very hard to read.  I have to work very hard to stay in a place of being open and truly present to those around me.

Many creative business owners share my hypersensitivity.  In the context of creating art and running a business, the issue is not so much trying and failing as much as it is the criticism and judgment of somehow being less than.  So long as people can say, “that is/was such a cool idea” as it goes down in a ball of flames there is no issue.  It is only when they say, “what were you thinking?!?” that we are undone.  The dagger of criticism doesn’t stop me from producing great work and coming up with terrific, even outrageous ideas, but, if I let it, it can kill spontaneity and limit my ability to just lay the indefensible out there without expectation.  The difference between really good and exceptional is often a moment of spontaneous inspiration.

Seth Godin, in Linchpin, talks about the need to quiet the Lizard Brain as it holds us back from putting ourselves all the way out there.  Fear.less shows us the power of overcoming fear to manifest our potential.  Danielle Laporte motivates through her unending commitment to move us into the glory of our very humanness instead of constantly running from it.  I love the messages Seth, Fear.less and Danielle deliver and try to listen to them, and many others like them, every day.

My point here is not so much about overcoming anything as much as it is embracing what is.  Yes, you have to move forward and grow.  You, your art and your creative business have to be constantly evolving.  Like a fish, if you stop moving, you die.  However, you cannot move for movement’s sake.  You have to move with the humility and grace of knowing who and what you are today.  There is no such thing as leaving your old self (or business behind).  Life is a process and just when you think you are past something, there it is again.  The joy of moving with humility and grace is that you are truly free to explore what’s next.  I have moved in reaction to never wanting to be judged as less than, yet the judgment comes anyway (mostly from myself).  I strive to move precisely because there will be judgment.