Focus on Your Strengths
In my last post I discussed how positive thinking can have a huge impact on your creativity. This post will have a similar theme, but with a slightly different edge to it. Like myself, many of the friends that I have are into personal development. Rhoda and I have been texting each other daily for over a year discussing art and personal development and Duey is all about personal development in everything he does. Tonight at Toastmasters one of my friends Megan gave a speech which suggested that instead of approaching personal development from the negative point of view of “what are my weaknesses that I need to develop”, instead we should focus on the positive attitude of “what are my strengths that I can develop!”
About 10 years ago at the very, very beginning of my slow journey into personal development my then priest, who is now an Antiochian Orthodox Bishop, asked me when discussing the painting of icons “where is the joy in your work?” This priest was a trained counselor and could see through the trite response I gave him, so we began working on the very, very outer layers of the onion which had mostly to do with my temper and anger. You have to get past the anger and temper in order to start looking for joy.
For many years I focused on what I could not do in art. I am not the best at drawing a realistic face. I am not the best oil painter. I am not the best at painting in egg tempera. My icons look more modern than the ancient prototypes. Etc. This focus led to a certain level of unhappiness. Even when I found that I loved to paint Byzantine Icons I still focused on what I was not good at in iconography, instead of focusing on my strengths. It was easier to beat myself up over the fact that my icons don’t look exactly like the ancient prototypes instead of focusing on the strengths like the fact that I taught a person who did not even know how to draw a straight line and within 6 years taught her to be a better icon painter than I am. When you are used to not looking for the positive in things, it is an easy thing to do. This is why my recent series of watercolor paintings and now my current series of pencil drawings bring so much joy to me. They bring joy to me because I am focusing on what I do well and beyond that, what brings me joy to do.
So I must ask you, what are your strengths as an artist? What are you good at? Are you doing things that focus on your strengths and help you grow as an artist? If you are not then here is your permission to do so.
