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Joyful Creative Life Blog Articles

Written & Illustrated by: Tanya J. de Wet

A Little Head Start

Writer's picture: Tanya{ADMIN}Tanya{ADMIN}

Updated: Feb 1, 2022

As we go about our regular day-to-day lives, of course in pursuit of the moments that can spark joy, we find ourselves feeling less than happy.



Here are some photos of the Live Call where we created the inside cover of a new Sketchbook. Once vectorized, I could re-colour & create the Blog Article cover image


I learned how to use my creativity in this way through my Surface Pattern Design Mentor, Bonnie Christine. She happens to be running a Secrets to Success Workshop one of these days & as soon as I receive my affiliate links, I'll share it here with you so that you can also see how wonderful it is to learn these Creative Skills & stay up to date with the industry standards.


UPDATED LINK TO SECRETS TO SUCCESS Hope to see you inside as I'll be heading there right now, I don't want to miss out on what is new!


Anyway, let's get back to today's Blog Article. By doing the same thing over & over again, does not bring us new results. You’ll have to pick up from yesterday & continue on a new success path. BUT first you must acknowledge to yourself that it is on the list of things you wanted to do? Could it be that you may be disappointed at yourself because of something silly you didn’t do right or didn’t do well or forgot to do altogether? Those mishaps are in the past now, all that matters now is that you still want success!


Your intentions might have started out right & you definitely got out of bed on the right foot. Yet, the miserable feeling of not knowing what happened to your joy today, is still lingering around you like the noxious scent of skunk spray! Are you wondering why this day can't be the day you just woke up with an open heart filled with gratitude & forgiveness? Or did you jump into the same routine, did the same old shizz you do every day? Following the same rat race you've always chased?


Remember the Pinky & the Brain cartoon? “Hey Brain. What are we going to do today, Pinkie? Same thing we do every day… Take over the world!!!” Take a look at the Pinky & the Brain Cartoon Intro to refresh your memory


To give you some context here before I bring today's Article together for you. Pinky & the Brain Cartoon is an American animated television series that was created by Tom Ruegger. According to Wikipedia, as I just learned, was the 4th collaboration of Steven Spielberg with his production. It was the first animated television series to be presented in Dolby Surround Sound & Episode skits appeared on Animaniacs from around 1993 when I first saw these two characters. The first episode premiered on Kids' Warner Brother's on 09 September 1995 & the rest is history.


Pinky & the Brain are two genetically enhanced laboratory mice. Brain, a genius, self-centered schemer, while Pinky, a good-hearted dozy type character. Every single day, Brain contrives a new plan to take over the world… Which ultimately ends in failure. There is a string of possible reasons for this, although my biggest take-back from their misfortune, is that the goal was destined to fail.


Let me explain.


If two lab rats wanted to take over the world, wouldn’t the first goal be to do something a little smaller with a recipe that already proved itself to work? It seems that the ambitious end goal from where they were was just too big for them. They didn't have all the facts. If they could only break down their plan into smaller achievable victories * have a road-map to success, they would be able to celebrate these smaller victories every night when they planned the next big step for tomorrow. I’m all about the easy, achievable goals while reverse engineering the end-goal into a better working plan. You know... doing that one great thing every day to move my career forward.


We tend to look at the big goal & never see the steps that lead there in the beginning. Reaching for something big is great, but developing a fear of reaching it is never going to get you there.


If your goal is to take over the world, it would be advised to begin with yourself, then branch out. Place your dominance on a continuation of steps leading to Self-Mastery, then take on the next bigger thing. Everything in between is so much more achievable when you have dominion over your own actions first. Which means if you where Pink & the Brain, you had several failures along the way & never gave up on the goal!!!! Although a better strategy would be to change your approach to the goal & then give it another go.


Does this mean we stop dreaming once a goal is reached? Absolutely not, we have to keep on growing. The smaller plans bring about a better understanding of where we are heading instead of bumping our heads against repeated failures.


Don’t get me wrong, each failure I’ve had just brought me more motivation & a deeper perception on what to change, what to keep & what to do next. Yes, you have to sit there in despaired disappointment & cry for a day to dissolve away more of the limiting beliefs. I‘ve discussed this multiple times, but if you are ready to become free from some of your own limiting beliefs, then my downloadable workbook “Overcoming the Dream Crushing Weeds” is just the thing for you.



In it I describe a few of my previous limiting beliefs & give you some practical tips on how I dealt with that sort of nonsense. That’s exactly what it is… nonsense & you must deal with your 'stuff' to move forward.


It isn't easy getting your act together after a lifetime of baggage. In some cases you may feel happy enough to stay right where you are... or you may have bigger dreams that require you to get your act together & self-analyse.


You’ve guessed it! Once you have your hands on the secrets to success, you'll be able to:

1. Do the work you have to do every day to move you forward.
2. Take one step forward every day until you get there.




I know it feels like pain right now, but so does your current plan


If it isn't starting to look like a glimmer of light, there is work to do! Again!


Feeling awful about this setback can't bring you the results! And wondering why your joy is still illusive at times. isn't going to magically bring you more joy!? The up-n-down roller coaster feelings ruling your life needs someone to lead it & only you can lead your actions. Now, hear me out as we touch on a subject that very few people want to take seriously... as they hear the mere mention of the words “you must forgive”.


I hope I didn't loose you here, or find you running for the hills.


Throughout my life & long interaction with people during a 24+ year client based career, I’ve had to deal with this very humble, yet daunting state on multiple levels. Until I began the work of actually working through many of my own bags of garbage. Not only forgiving in a general sense, but also to forgive myself along the way. As we all make mistakes, we all also tend to avoid the difficult things. It's our brains way of helping us to not feel the hurt & the pain of all the baggage we drag along. It build up & causes even more pain resulting in more disrepair. I used to find myself making a mistake & immediately being upset about it. This didn’t help at all. It made me feel unhappy, even unaccomplished at times & it stripped away the joy I wanted.


Do you know what helped?


Dealing with each small thing as it happened. Feeling the feelings, no matter how painful. Working though solutions to see what will work & learning how to deal with what I had to overcome. This piece of self-work was a game changer & it started with small steps of forgiveness.


Sometimes the pain of having to forgive yourself for making poor judgement calls or wasting your time on stuff that didn’t work is heartbreaking, especially when you’ve lost momentum or feel completely defeated.


If you are not feeling happy at least 30% of the time, there is something hindering you from living an extraordinary life. Being fully in love with your life is in effect one of the biggest gifts you can give yourself.


Without it, the past uploads every morning & your day begins with the failures of yesterday. It just won’t work out well. Your progress will falter, the beautiful intentions also pine away before you know it & the mission is often left abandoned because you keep on feeling like shit!


Without self-forgiveness your past will haunt you, people will continue to hurt you & your good intentions, hard work & all other efforts fall behind in the spiral of regrets, grudges & unhappiness.

Do yourself, your lifestyle & your career a big fat favour today by just sitting down with a pen, a sheet of paper & venting a little about all the shizz going on in your life today. Hold on, because you'll be met with heaps of resistance. Know this before you start; resistance is just your mind & body hating the fact that you want to change. Processing your most dominant thoughts is what is causing the feelings & painful emotions, but it is fundamentally our humanness that prevents us from dealing with painfully stressful things. All too often I’ve seen people spiralling into despair because they became lodged in the never-ending trap of repeat emotions, feelings of regret & repeatedly making the same mistakes over & over again.


Just like Pinky & the Brain, the plan to success is flawed with past mistakes. There was no release of negative emotions, nor any sense of self-forgiveness. The freeing act of carrying out forgiveness is based on your need or willingness to offer it to yourself. In other words; when you felt like a failure yesterday because you made a mistake, the absence of forgiveness won’t allow you to process your feelings on the situation in order to move forward.


The whole process of dealing with your emotions may include stuff like self-analysing, monitoring behaviours & letting go of certain emotional states. It does take work & it involves some time...


The rewards of clearing up garbage is a multiplication of your very beautiful dreams & an elevated desire that is in perfect harmony with the joyful life you’ve been wishing to live.


When you’ve had enough of holding grudges, blaming others & an unhappy emotional state, or just need to know how to move beyond your current frame of mind; I invite you to visit one of my favourite British Therapists, Marisa Peer, on her Blog. She has an amazing article about forgiveness & some deeper insights into how to overcome the barriers that prevent us from freeing ourselves from this state of mind. The article is jam packed with helpful tips on why & how to use forgiveness to free yourself from bondage.


Here is a Guided Meditation with Marisa to help you along the way!




I have worked to overcome my own bondage so that I can live a happier, more joyful life. It's given me a healthier state of mind, it's elevated my creativity & moved me forward in my Multi-Disciplinary careers as an Artist, Surface Pattern Designer & Creative Entrepreneur. Not to mention how much forgiveness has done for my students & the people who trust me to guide them on their journeys.


We cannot treat forgiveness as a way to forgive someone & make us right! No, we do it to overcome blockages in order to become your best version. Do yourself a favour by being your own best friend & show yourself some compassion for a change. After all, aren’t you trying to live your best life?


Unforgiving states just puts us into conflict mode with a bad attitude. Nothing good ever comes from it.


Joy & a Creative Journey begins with you knowing what you want. So, ask yourself this: “What do I want?” Do I want to stay stuck? If the answer, is “I don’t know”, that would be okay for now. At least you’ve made a start. You may have a few “I don’t know” moments & until then, become present in the life you are living in now & find some kind of inner peace.


It can be as simple as playing in your Sketchbooks or following a Guided Meditation. Just Connect in a way that allows you to have a little access to the life you want to live...


Taking over the world begins much closer than you think & now is as good a time to do it than any other.


A little head start won’t hurt & you certainly deserve it!


Love

Tanya

xo

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