Awakening the Medicine of Art – Interview with Intuitive Artist Adrienne Stohr Lewis

by Amanda StoneAwakened Creator Spotlight, Creativity, Inspiration, Visual ArtsPosted on No Comments

“My painting practice is a sacred space where I can connect to myself and spirit. It is a space where I speak my truth and where I rewrite my limiting stories and beliefs.” Today’s Awakened Creator Spotlight is on Adrienne Stohr Lewis, an art medicine woman, intuitive artist, and community herbalist, who is reconnecting with her authentic spirit and ancestors through the medicine of art. Connect with her on Instagram @otter.woman. Here is Adrienne in her own words on her creative journey and what it means to be an Awakened Creator. Tell us about your authentic creative expression. What do you love to create and why? I love to paint. I love acrylic and watercolor mediums. My painting practice is a sacred space where I can connect to myself and spirit. It is a space where I speak my truth and where I rewrite my limiting stories and beliefs. It is where I reconnect to my authentic self and feel my ancestors and guides showing me my next right thing. This alchemy shows up in the very intuitive almost shamanic nature of my paintings.  What most often gets in your way as a creator and how do you stay in alignment and flow? The hard truth is, I get in my own way. My stories around perfectionism and productivity are my biggest obstacles. I was taught to hustle, to please, to be polite, and to excel at whatever I did, and if I wasn’t the best to drop it. Painting has helped me cultivate my personal integrity and authenticity, to be really honest with myself. I’ve realized that me being my most whole and authentic self is my greatest gift to the world. A big part of this alignment for me is staying in relationship with my menstrual cycle. When my critic shows up it is most often in the luteal phase of my cycle. My flow and alignment are directly tied to this cycle. In the beginning of my month I often feel very expansive, free, intuitive and creative. In the later half of my cycle I feel much more introspective, slower, and less motivated. Being in alignment with my cycle gives me permission to be a different new version of myself everyday and helps me recognize when the shadow of perfectionism and productivity threaten to dominate my creative space. If you could offer words of wisdom or support to your fellow creators, what would you say? A wisdom I love and think of often is the idea that we can only see what already exists inside of us. If you are drawn to the magic of a certain tree it is because the tree is mirroring back to you something magical about yourself. I trust that if you are here reading this and following Awakened Creators it is because your creative spirit has been awakened. We have all these ideas about what it means to be “creative” and an “artist”. The truth is we are all creative beings and we are creating all day everyday of our lives. It may not be the “art” you dream of making, but when we begin to look at our lives as art we begin to make the transition from matching a shirt and a pair of pants together as an expression of our unique selves, to the confidence to put that expression on paper or canvas or on the dance floor. You’re already an artist making life art, what else are you going to create?  How did you become a part of the Awakened Creators community and what does being an Awakened Creator mean to you? I found Amanda/or she found me (I can’t recall actually) on Instagram and I LOVE all of her posts. I feel like I’m growing with her posts. Sometimes I read them and I’ve just had an ha-ha about a post she’s shared, so it’s deeply validating, or she’ll share something and it creates that ah-ha moment because I was ripe for the lesson. Always I feel there is such deep magic and wisdom in her work and that she is of such service to this community which I deeply admire. Want to connect with Adrienne? Check out Adrienne’s incredible healing creations on: Instagram: @otter.woman Facebook: Otter Woman Earth Medicine or visit www.otterwoman.com for painting courses & herbal healing. Do you have the desire to align with your authentic creative expression? If you want to feel free to create from the heart, my HeART Alignment Creative Ritual guide will show you a pathway home. I will personally guide you (with quick video lessons) through a simple yet powerful creative ritual that will bring your heART back online so you can start creating from that space again. Access the HeART Alignment Creative Ritual guide for free.

3 Family Dynamics that Killed Your Creativity as a Child

by Amanda StoneCreativity, Inner ChildPosted on No Comments

A child’s capacity for creativity is unbridled. So much so that as adults, we often look to children for inspiration on how to be creative, open minded, and imaginative.  But what happens to children whose creativity is not greeted with respect or is in some way inhibited by born-into circumstances?  It is likely that those children grow up to suppress their creative impulses (often subconsciously), and carry within them the false belief that their creative talents are somehow a negative trait or simply not worthy of exploration. Decades of suppression, particularly in those who demonstrated early creative gifts, can lead to major life impediments, including depression, anxiety, or even substance abuse. Could a premature stifling of your own creative talents be the source of discomfort, low self-worth, or lack of direction in your own life? I’ve identified 3 Family Dynamics that Killed Your Creativity as a Child to help you stop blaming yourself and reclaim your gifts once and for all. Each dynamic will be balanced with practical action steps you can take to counter this negative programming and find out what you’ve been missing! Family Dynamic 1: The Anti-Creative Parent  While most parents make an effort to encourage their children to be creative, or at least allow space for it to be explored, some may not be supportive at all, and in extreme cases may even punish their children who show signs of creative talent. This may be especially true for children whose creative talents exist outside of societal gender norms or those whose parent(s) are themselves repressed creatives (envy is a key sign) or have a narcissistic personality Growing up with this family dynamic may have meant your parent disrespected your creativity, either by expecting perfection or by punishing flickers of talent. Others may have experienced an overbearing emphasis on things other than creativity such as studying, analytical skills, religion, or cleanliness, leaving little room for you to explore and expand your creative talents or learn by making mistakes.  This type of environment perpetuates the following negative programming: MY CREATIVITY HAS NO VALUE. The Antidote:  Re-parenting yourself is key! Now that you are an adult, your job is to parent yourself the way you always wished you had been. This means giving yourself the things your parent(s) did not and doing it with all the love, compassion, and tenderness that you can muster. Here are two ways to counter the programming of an Anti-Creative Parent: Give yourself time to play. Whether it is a coloring book, strumming a guitar, or playing with PlayDoh, let your inner child have all the time they need to explore things that interest them. Extra Tip: Take note of how you feel before and after your play session in a journal so you can truly see for yourself the value it has for improving your mood and lifting your spirit. Treat your creative work with the utmost respect. A critical voice is usually the voice of someone else, and if you had an Anti-Creative Parent, you are likely unconsciously repeating things you heard them (or others) tell you growing up. Set the intention before a creative session not to judge your work. Instead affirm that you are a beginner and must crawl before you walk and that is perfectly okay. Extra Tip: Proudly place your work somewhere afterwards or reward yourself for your efforts in a healthy way. It takes a lot of courage to try something for the first time (or the first time in a very long time).  Family Dynamic 2: Creative Lack Due to Childhood Poverty According to Children Incorporated, 21% of American children live below the poverty threshold, and anyone who has explored a creative pursuit knows it can be an expensive hobby. Burgeoning visual artists and musicians who did not grow up with means, or live in places where arts programs were available or properly funded, may have faced the harsh reality that their parent (even if supportive) simply could not afford to feed their creative impulses.  Growing up within this dynamic makes it hard to justify spending money on your creativity, even as an adult. Instead, creative pursuits may be viewed as impractical and frivolous, in comparison to endeavors that might yield higher financial returns like finding gainful employment or pursuing a financially lucrative education program.  This type of environment perpetuates the following negative programming: MY CREATIVITY IS A BURDEN. The Antidote:  Even if your economic circumstances have improved since childhood and you are in a position to fund your own creative efforts, you may experience great resistance to doing so. Below are couple ideas for pushing back against your past and creating an abundance of creative opportunities in your life. Artist Dates Creativity Coach Julia Cameron, describes a practice in her essential book The Artist’s Way, called Artist Dates. To do this, you will take yourself on an excursion that places emphasis on your creativity. It could be a walk through a museum, listening to live music at a local restaurant, or a visit to the library to check out books relating to your chosen creative path. Extra Tip: Artist dates are intended to be taken solo, so you can revel in the experience without needing to entertain anyone else. Be sure to give yourself plenty of time to not feel rushed.  Invest in Yourself If possible, consider dropping some money on your creative interests. It could be something as simple as a pack of crayons and a coloring book or signing up for a local writing course. Allow yourself to feel the freedom of investing in yourself and being able to make your interests a priority. Extra Tip: While there are many “free” opportunities available, the intention here is to spend money so you truly feel the weight of that investment and can start exploring your feeling of worthiness (or lack of it) related to this. Journal how it felt to make that investment in yourself. Family Dynamic 3: The Spotlight Stealing Sibling Comparison is …

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5 Signs You’re a Repressed Creative

by Amanda StoneCreativity, Inner Child, VideosPosted on No Comments

Are you unsatisfied with life, even though on paper everything seems like it should be fine? Does it feel like no matter what you do or try, you never seem to find that ever elusive fulfillment that you are seeking deep within? If so, you might be a repressed creative. Check in with the 5 Signs You’re a Repressed Creative outlined below and then catch my 3 solutions you can use to awaken the creator within. How do we become “repressed creatives”? Creativity comes in many forms and often times when we are younger we are more tapped into that source of creative flow, but as we age, practical things like education, bills, mortgages, and jobs take over our lives. Even if we are happy for the most part with what we have around us, we can still feel that odd pull within that somehow we are not doing what we are supposed to be doing. You may have a lot of obligations in your life that you feel keep you from expressing your desires, emotions, or dreams. It may be obligations you chose but might be ones that were given to you, or passed on through family traditions. Usually, through our lives we reach a point where we stuff the creative parts of us away, deem them unnecessary or frivolous and begin a journey into practicality and “realistic” thinking. While it may bring us financial or physical prosperity, the repressed creative will still feel unsatisfied with this abundance because it does nothing to feed its soul. Look through the following signs to see if you resonate with being a repressed creative and learn 3 ways you can unblock your creativity today and start feeling better. Sign #1 – You Were Talented/Gifted As a Child Children are naturally tuned into their creative joy and generally, adults do not steer them toward more “practical” pursuits until later in life (though there’s always an exception to the rule). As a younger person, you may have been in a special program based on your innate talents. Or perhaps you were told how creative, artistic, or unique you were growing up. Maybe you even played an instrument, wrote songs, sang, painted, wrote stories, or made short films. Fast forward to today and any trace of that part of you is all but forgotten. You may still have some memories of it lying around in a dusty box somewhere, but for the most part your life hardly resembles that of an artist, writer, filmmaker, or creative person. Which is part of the reason why… Sign #2 – You Deeply Admire Great Creators Even if you don’t create currently, you find yourself admiring highly creative people. Perhaps there is a particular screenwriter or film director whose movies you’ve watched dozens of times. Maybe there’s a musical artist that you never get tired of and you listen in awe at how deep the lyrics are or how innovate the beat is. Perhaps there is an artist whose work you would love to one day own a piece of, or an author whose written “voice” instantly transports you to another world. My father once told me, “greatness recognizes greatness.” And I firmly believe that you resonate on such a deep level with those you admire because you in fact have a similar innate talent and ability to create amazing things. You resonate on such a deep level with those you admire because you in fact have a similar innate talent and ability to create. But you don’t create. Instead… Sign #3 – You Binge Watch Creative Competition Shows You could (and perhaps do) spend hours watching creative competition shows like: Face Off, Skin Wars, Master Chef, Project Runway. If there are creative people expressing themselves, you are tuned in and curious. Your interest in these types of shows is primarily because of the same reason mentioned in Sign #2 and that is that you recognize a part of your own desires in them. Basically, when you are watching, you are living vicariously through these people. As you watch, you may start to imagine what you would create or design but quickly negate the idea with negative self-talk or other reasons why you aren’t as capable or able to accomplish such things. Which is the kind of thinking that shows… Sign #4 – You’re Secretly Jealous of Creative People Although you admire creative folks, you may find your mind turning negative and saying things like: “I could do a better job.” “I’d love to give up my job and paint full time but everyone knows that’s impossible.” “She’s only big now because she knows so-and-so.” Take it for what you will, but these negative thoughts are all limiting beliefs we have imposed on ourselves. They are lies the Ego tells us to keep us small and protected. Branching out would require us to risk getting hurt, failing, or being rejected and we are far too fragile for that right now. So instead, we watch with envy and prevent ourselves from seeing ourselves as fully capable of achieving the same success. Which is why… Sign #5 – No Level of Achievement Satisfies You This is a HUGE red flag. You may be highly accomplished in your education, career, or domestic life. On paper everything looks fine, but something deep inside you just doesn’t find fulfillment in it all. You may even feel guilty for feeling this way. I know I did. This subconscious dissatisfaction can start to manifest as addiction issues with shopping, alcohol, food, even sex and TV. You might find yourself doing everything you can to stuff down these feelings because you don’t feel like you have a way to solve them. So what can you do about it? Assuming you’ve read down this far and can see yourself clearly in the signs described above, I imagine you want to do something about this. “So I’m a repressed creative, now what?” Well, there are a couple of …

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