The Inner Kindergartner - An Artist Within Us All

“No matter what your age or your life path, whether making art is your career or your hobby or your dream, it is not too late or too egotistical or too selfish or too silly to work on your creativity.”
― Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity

When I was younger I was told I was creative, mostly by my mother. Underneath my pride at her compliments, I felt a vague unease that whispered “Mom’s always think their children are potential Picasso’s”.  I had similar thoughts whenever anyone else paid me similar compliments. There was always a small voice that immediately discounted my own inner artist and its abilities and talent. The idea that we are to grow up and be doctors and lawyers and nurses and accountants and policemen and business people further reinforced the idea that creativity and art is a secondary function of a person, if at all. Those who are artists by trade, able to earn and make their existence with their craft in whatever field they choose are like rare birds to observe from afar while going about the real and serious business of  being a responsible and successful adult in the more conventional ways.

Over the last few years I have begun to have a shift in my beliefs of what art and creativity actually is. Who are the true artists? What is creativity? Is it really some “other-world” that exists parallel to but not over-lapping of our daily existence in general? I don’t think so. I think it permeates everyone and can be a part of everything if we let it.

My definition of art is the ability of someone to infuse something they create with a part of themselves in such a way it is translated to another. Creativity, to me, is the ability of the human race to approach things from unique ways and to carry out tasks and ideas with individual flair. In this way, I believe everyone has an inner artist from the painter to the accountant at any and every age and on every economic and educational level.  We all have the ability to do something “our way” and to encode it with our unique touch…and to have it communicate that essence to another human being.

I always have to tell myself  “Whatever you do, do it with your heart. Infuse it with your spirit. Make it your art.” This is what turns a job into a creation, a vocation into a craft. Listen to that inner Kindergartner that loved getting their hands wrist deep in mud to build a pie with leaf icing! Remember them? I try to invite that inner mud-pie, Fruit Loop picture maker into every day to offer their unfettered artistic inclinations to all I make.   Whether you are an artisan or an accountant, a sculptor or a surgeon there is only one YOU and only you can do what you do with your unique touch. This is art.  To give ourselves permission to tap into our inner reservoirs and let the creativity overflow it’s banks into our everyday lives. How it does so is part of the adventure. Let life become our canvas! 

I'd love to hear how you've reached past your inner critic to tap into your inner artist? Did you struggle or was it a natural progression? What is your favorite creative memory as a child?

Thank you for reading and sharing your artistic selves in the Zahoomi Community! On with the adventure!