Bizarre and Flawed, by Julie Gibbons

“I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it's true I'm here, and I'm just as strange as you." Frida Kahlo

---oooOooo---

Hello, you out there.

I am so pleased to meet you!

I see your bizarre flaws and I love you for them.

Will you be my {strange} friend?

With love,
Julie xo

---oooOooo---

Julie Gibbons is an artful self-help guide. What that really means is that she shares personal stories and artful techniques to help women invoke the creative magic they need to discover their whole, true and best self. Artful self help is a combination of art and journal therapy and the psychology of self, which allows you to tap into soul wisdom and experience personal growth, healing and transformation.

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The Hero's Quest by Julie Gibbons

Heroes – in myth, literature, and real life – take journeys, confront dragons (ie problems) and discover the treasure of their true selves. Although they may feel very alone during the quest, at its end their reward is a sense of community; with themselves, with other people, and with the earth. ~ Carol Pearson

Your creative dreams depend on your commitment to the hero's quest.

Your unwavering dedication will see you through to the other side of all the obstacles life throws in our wake. Be sure that you will not return from your quest unscathed, nor will you return the same. You will face many unknowns as you walk the path and you will gain knowledge that rocks you to your core.

On your return, you will understand how to interpret your soul speak, so that you may not only live in your whole, true self, but commune with your people - those who would hear your words and share them.

The truth that you must hold on to is that you know all you need to get started now - there will be no other more perfect time - and you are ready in this moment. In fact, you have always been ready.

Your creative dreams depend on you, yes. For you are your own hero. Get ready to gather the treasure. Now is the time for you to begin to live the creative life you dream of.

Your first step - discover who you truly are, what you truly want and how you can truly serve. That is your hero’s quest.

Julie Gibbons enjoys art journaling, journal therapy and mixed media. Her passion is self discovery through intuitive, creative practice, to reveal personal patterns, symbolism & archetypes of the true self.

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A word beginning with S ... T ... U ... C ... K by Julie Gibbons

Stuck, trapped, blocked, frozen, stumped.

There are unlimited ways for those unwanted adjectives to play out in our lives - and the degrees to which they affect us are just as abundant.

Today, I'm keeping in mind the scenario of a creative who gets stuck as they're creating a piece of work.

This happens to me most often when I'm trying to write an article for someone else or to produce content for one of my classes - and it hits particularly hard when there's a deadline attached.

Sound familiar? Here are some of my tactics for getting myself unstuck.

S is for ..... Step away from the ______

When we find ourselves feeling the familiar signs of the discomfort of being stuck, it's time to disengage from whatever it is we're trying to do and go do something else.

Through my experience of Body Harmony with Lindsay, I've learned to tune into the subtle signals my body uses to tell me what I need at that particular time. And I've learned that it's never wrong!

If I'm struggling for too long fighting my inert creativity, my body responds pretty clearly. I'll start dancing in my seat to invisible ants in my pants. My back begins to talk to my shoulder and soon enough my wrist joins in until there's a cacophony of protest.

My brain has kept me on task, trying in vain to squeeze something out, but my body knows best. It's time to leave and come at it another time.

T is for ..... Turn it around

Quite easy to make this literal when we're working on a painting. What about when we're writing?

Sometimes I begin to write a piece without knowing what I'm trying to say and despite typing away for what seems like (and often is) hours, the punchline fails to reveal itself.

I get so frustrated when this happens. No doubt there's a whole screed of stuff waiting to get ticked off my to-do's and if I don't get this finished, I'll miss the submission deadline.

This is the time for me to take a deep breath and believe that the words which just flowed from my fingers were in fact perfect. What is wrong is the order in which they came.

So I begin to move the paragraphs around in a different order, like pieces of a puzzle. It can take a wee while, but with patience, the narrative begins to come together and I can see my way through to a punchline.

The discarded paragraphs? I copy them into a 'bucket' document - they may just be waiting for the right narrative to come along.

U is for ..... Unravel the clues

There is something to be said for digging a little deeper into our ... stuckness. It may be that there's more going on than we think, or that there's something else that we can't quite put your finger on, which is preventing us from moving forwards.

Asking questions may help us unravel the tangle of thread that will lead to the answers we need before we can proceed with this particular project.

Here are some questions I ask myself which often lead to to a quick resolution;

• Have you dunk enough water today? How about food?
• When was the last time you took a walk?
• Did you make your to-do list for the day? Was this project on it?
• Is there something else you've been meaning to do but haven't got around to, yet? Might it be time to go do that instead?
• Is this project something you really want to deliver? If it isn't, what are the implications if you don't complete? Can you live with that?
• Whose deadline are you working to? Can you ask for an extension? If it is your own deadline, might you be able to swap some things around to make it easier for you?
• Do you need to nap?
• What about starting over? How do you feel about taking a fresh stab at it - might that help?
• How are your emotions? Are you writing about anything that seems to be a trigger for you? What message do you think that holds for you right in this moment?
• When was the last time you made an art journal spread or got your art on? How about taking some time to do that before you return to your writing?

The questions, of course, could be never-ending. The trick is to tune into what your gut might already be whispering to you.

C is for ..... Call for help

This is probably one of the tactics I use most often.

You see, I'm extremely blessed that my wee family works from home and each morning we meet over coffee to discuss 'business'. This is our opportunity to mark important dates in the diary and tell each other about our current projects.

It's also usually the time for us to talk about where we feel stuck or blocked. Most often, just by talking about it, we find that the problem is solved and our next step is clear. Isn't it true that talking out loud about being stuck unravels things more quickly than thinking about it inside your head?

Other times, it's what the others have to say that helps us figure out where to go next.

If I didn't have this ready source of wisdom to pull from, then I'd need to go and find one - it's part of the peril of working from home, that we don't get the chance to chat casually about the stuff we're working on.

Thankfully, for those of without a ready made team to hand, we have Skype and Google Hangouts to help keep us connected to other live souls out there in the same boat as ourselves!

K is for ..... Keep on going

Sometimes there is nothing else for it than to just keep on keeping on.

I'm generally not one for torturing myself, but I also know that I'm easily distracted. Sometimes, it seems like I'm stuck only because I'm not properly focussed on the task in hand! Time to switch off the social media streams, the podcasts, music or (like right now, Wimbledon!) and just do it!

I also tend to give myself a lot of leeway when it comes to assigning a schedule for work. Because I take great delight in my flexible hours, it can often be mid morning and sometimes lunchtime before I actually sit down at my computer. This means that I can still be there in the evenings and often weekends.

It's easy to let that habit creep in even when I begin early in the morning. Being strict with my schedule can provide the discipline I need to just get on with it - otherwise I can stretch out the day and achieve no more than I would have done had I spent half the time on it.

What about you? Does any of that sound familiar? What are your top tips for becoming unstuck? We'd love for you to add them in the comments section below :)

Julie Gibbons enjoys art journaling, journal therapy and mixed media. Her passion is self discovery through intuitive, creative practice, to reveal personal patterns, symbolism & archetypes of the true self.
Blog & Website + Etsy

The Gypsy's Message for When Things Go Wrong by Julie Gibbons

Oh my! How often have you had a picture in your head of something you want to create and it turns out nothing like your vision? Especially often if you’re a visual artist, I’d guess.

What about when you've gone through a process that usually delivers for you, and you've still ended up with something you completely dislike?

It happens to all of us - but knowing that just doesn't make it any better. Sure, logically we understand that creating content isn't a foolproof occupation and that sometimes we will make stuff that we're not totally in love with.

We also know that we are often our harshest critics. But knowing this stuff doesn't ease the disappointment and frustration when things don’t go to plan.

True Story

Most of my work centers around the process of making art, rather than the end product as a piece of art. But the truth is that I also have an ego, and often create with the hope that I’ll make something beautiful at the end of it all.

My series of Goddess Within portraits was a perfect example of such. It was to be an exercise in revealing the many facets of the goddess that we each possess through the creation of mixed media portraits.

Creating portraits appeals hugely to my sense of coming to understand and know my Self better but as my creative renaissance has been a fairly recent phenomenon, I’m also interested in developing and growing my arting skill - and hopefully developing an artistic style of my own.

The first two portraits went well and I was delighted with the results. They felt like something I would comfortably share with my friends and so I did.

Sharing this process isn’t so easy - there are so many fantastic artists out there, I know my work doesn’t have anything like the same skill or depth of qualities. But the sharing is also part of my process, and it’s definitely easier to do when I ‘like’ what I make.

When things go wrong

The third portrait in my series wasn’t at all the same experience.

Going in, I was feeling fairly confident about what I’d get out. It’d been ages since I’d made anything I ‘hated’ (such strong words we use when criticising our own work, hey?) so it didn’t even occur to me that it would happen this time.

Well, it did. The end result was so far from the picture I’d started out with. And to make things worse, I was filming everything so I could add it to my YouTube Goddess Portrait playlist!

Double trouble … It was looking dodgy from the very beginning, but I hoped that my technique would come together eventually. Eventually, I'd been at it for fifty minutes when the camera ran out of space and the filming stopped. At that point I knew I wasn't going to keep going. She simply wasn't going to be beautiful, this Gypsy Goddess.

I also knew that I wouldn’t upload the video - it was more than the portrait ‘not being good enough’ - it was that I didn’t like her at all!

It's difficult to articulate ... I don’t want to invite false compliments or have anyone reassure me that I am ‘good enough’. I believe in myself, honestly - but take a look, she really is simply not very good and I hated the look of her - I was creating far 'better' portraits a year ago when I really was just beginning!!

But what I want to convey with this story is that notion of having made a mistake - of experience mishap....

This common experience of having invested time and energy in something that doesn’t do what you wanted it to do. It’s quite a visceral experience, isn’t it? Sure, there’s stuff going on in your head, but bodily, you’re also reacting in a way that’s uncomfortable. Emotions are most certainly triggered.

And so I've decided to post the video here!

Because the process has something to teach us. I've even stopped cringing when I look at her!

When I’m creating the portraits, I'm usually aware of a message that speaks to me through them - there’s always a lesson in it for me. This time was no different.

The gypsy spoke to me and she said, “moving around hard to pin down. gypsy soul. love. blending in. waiting to hear the violins. then you will dance and mesmerize.”

Her message was for me, of course, I don’t expect you to shout a chorus of knowing (though you might do - if you do, then we're soul sisters, come say hi!) They are simply words that struck deeply with me and highlighted my 'mistake' as another valuable experience on the creative path to my true self.

Here's the translation that I think does apply to all of us:

We don’t always hear the violins to which we might one day whirl, dervish like and fully embodied. Sometimes our gifts are difficult to pin down. But when we embrace our gypsy souls and also practice love, then we will hear such sweet music that we will indeed mesmerize.
 

Truly, there is a gift in every 'mishap', each 'mistake', everything we create that we don’t 'like'. Yes, it is so. When I look at these small sections of my gypsy, I love them. Perhaps we just need to take a different viewpoint ...

Julie Gibbons enjoys art journaling, journal therapy and mixed media. Her passion is self discovery through intuitive, creative practice, to reveal personal patterns, symbolism & archetypes of the true self.

Blog & Website + Etsy

How to Flirt with your Creative Lover by Julie Gibbons

Creative living is an everyday commitment. A commitment to surrender to creative force, yes.

But is there anything we can do to elevate the surrender? Picasso is said to have observed, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” Is it enough to simply turn up at my desk and expect the force to penetrate?

Sometimes, yes - it works. Sometimes I can open the page, and simply begin to create something upon which there was once only space. It might suck, but I'm working, right? And by getting started, I know the creative force will soon appear to take hold of me and enter me like a lover, warm breath on my neck.

Other times, I just can't begin the work. I stare at the screen, I flick through the pages of the journal, I check out my Instagram feed or that doozy of all time suck, Facebook. Quite often I get up from my chair and before I know it, I'm stuffing an illicit chocolate digestive down my throat (if no one sees me do it, it doesn't count, right?) I'm not alone, I know it happens to you, too.

Catching the lover's attention

What can we do to spark our creativity when our beings are strongly resisting getting on with the work?

We already know the answers, don't we? We have always known but we need reminded sometimes. We just do. And sometimes our lover, the creative source, needs something extra to draw his attention.

Here are some of the ways I catch his eye;

Change physical location: My family is pretty much completely location independent but we can spend an inordinately large amount of time in one place, tied to our desks. Physically removing ourselves to a new location triggers an immediate flow of creative ideas. Always - it's like source needs to check up on me in this new place.

My favourite way to change location is by house swapping.

Engage play: It was through the rediscovery of the symbolic play of his childhood that psychologist CG Jung was able to connect with his creative spirit. The "active imagination" technique he developed from this connection forms the foundation of most of today's creative therapies. Playing opens doors. It allows for transformation and growth, just like when we were little.

Just now I'm finding play turn up in unexpected ways, creating joyful inspiration where I wasn't even looking for it.

Make magic: Jamie Ridler introduced me to cut and paste word and image collage a few years ago by way of her full moon dreamboards. It's something I developed into a daily practice called Found Inspirations. I can't explain the detailed ins and outs of how it works - I'm content simply to think of it as magic.

I am a sorceress, my magic wand a pair of scissors and a glue stick and I'm all the while batting my eyes flirtatiously at source.

Develop soul destiny: Sometimes we need only to ask the right questions of ourselves and we find in our answers the spark we need to make magic that day. I learned three soul questions a couple of years ago during a 21 day meditation challenge run by the Chopra Center. These questions have been guiding my way on a daily basis ever since. They never fail to deliver. It's like the creative source is listening out for the answers.

The questions: Who am I? What do I want? How do I serve?

Surround yourself with beauty: From John O'Donohue's book Divine Beauty: The Invisible Embrace, "Beauty does not linger, it only visits. Yet beauty's visitation affects us and invites us into its rhythm, it calls us to feel, think, and act beautifully in the world : to create and live a life that awakens the beautiful ... Even, and perhaps especially, in the bleakest times, we can still discover and awaken beauty; these are precisely the times when we need it most."

Beauty ignites our creativity - that's the truth. It's one of my top life values and has never failed me - even in the most dire of circumstances.Surround yourself with beauty and you can't fail to be inspired.

Go outside: This one works for almost every person I know. It has worked since before the dawn of time. If like me, you believe that we share the same spirit as every plant, animal and landscape, then you can find easy cause for great wonderment. If you simply enjoy getting some fresh air and experiencing the great outdoors, see if you can slow down to notice what is going on all around you.

Before you know it, you will be filled with some energetic magic that sparks your creativity with hardly any effort at all.

What lights your creative fire?

Make a list (embellish it for optimum magical powers) of all of the nurturing behaviours that have worked for you in the past and when inspiration jumps ship and leaves you lonely for some creative lovin', pick one or more of them, or a quick version you can put into action right now.

You'll soon feel the spark and the heat within will begin to rise. Oh yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about!

Julie Gibbons enjoys art journaling, journal therapy and mixed media. Her passion is self discovery through intuitive, creative practice, to reveal personal patterns, symbolism & archetypes of the true self.

Blog & Website + Etsy

My Creative Groove by Julie Gibbons

I forge each day fresh and new

I think bravery is key to it. That and keeping an open heart. When it comes to the acting out of it, anyway.

Fine tuning intuition helps, to hear the rhythm of the ebb and flow that makes for a more sensual dance.

Of course there's an overall plan. A direction. Needs and wants. Family and fortune. They play their part - for I'm not yet a free spirit in the wind.

And then there's also the wee bouts of obsession.

When I get so very enthused about my latest thing that I want to tell everybody I meet about it (and persuade them to get started, too?)

 

Those types of obsessions help shape my every day. They become a part of me.

Daily rituals, they change all the time

Creative energy is hard to pin down. Lithe and fluid, it grows and shrinks according to nutrients and kindness.

Sometimes it's loud and other times it just needs to be still.

Learning how to not force it is an art. Like all art, this takes practice and dedication.

When it comes down to it, there's a type of sacrifice that has to be made. An offering of self.

Creative source, I will open myself up to your whim and in return, you will inhabit me and I shall harness your energy to create form in this world.

 

Today that form may be hoop dance, tomorrow the making of mandalas. I am listening to your desires. 

Together we will make the choice. One eye on the plan, the other turned into my soul.

Surrendering to change

Sometimes it seems as if I might fall off this very earth if I don't hold on tight - just go zooming off into the cosmic soup, leaving a shimmering jet trail behind.

That's when I know I'm holding on too tight. When I'm letting my rituals dictate the day.

 

That is when it's time to take some deep breaths and relax. To let go of the shoulds and the musts (even when those should and musts come disguised as delicious friends, like yoga or morning pages ; a country walk or home baked bread.)

Sometimes they're not of my choosing, not in my control. These are the ones that need the most kindness bestowed in the moment of release.

My relationship with this creative life

I've chosen to live creatively with freedom.

I refuse to be bound with exclusivity agreements - I want to date many more creative passions.

It doesn't always come easy. Often, I'm not very good at it and other times, it is simply too fleeting to grab hold of. There's also plenty of disapproval and a distinct lack of safety nets along the way.

But you, dear creative source, your energy just keeps giving and I am grateful for every single one of your gifts.

 

Journal Prompts:

• What rituals are part of your daily rhythm that you feel might not be serving you in this instant?
• How do you feel about letting them go for the moment? ( Remember, you can reintroduce them anytime.)
• Can you identify a new passion that you feel drawn to flirt with?
• How do you imagine you would feel after trying out your new passion for a week?

Julie Gibbons enjoys art journaling, journal therapy and mixed media. Her passion is self discovery through intuitive, creative practice, to reveal personal patterns, symbolism & archetypes of the true self.

Blog & Website + Etsy

Home is a Creative Practice by Julie Gibbons

Here's a question for you : how much stuff do you know, compared to how much of it you put into practice?

I am so often guilty of gathering the knowing and forgetting choosing not to do the practice.

Learning all of that cool stuff and not putting it to good use is a wee bit akin to owning an exercise bike and using it to hang up laundry.

My home is filled with stuff we've gathered to practice with. It's infused into our everyday, into every space, every room.

Most of it isn't left untouched for long, but I've been wondering : if home is a creative practice, can it still be called a home if no one is practicing?



I'm challenging myself to figure out how to put all of my knowing into practice this month.

It includes unearthing the exercise bike from the laundry ;)

Here's another question for you : what fabulous teachings have you learned which you could choose to practice more often?

Julie Gibbons enjoys art journaling, journal therapy and mixed media. Her passion is self discovery through intuitive, creative practice, to reveal personal patterns, symbolism & archetypes of the true self.

Blog & Website + Etsy

Breathe in Love by Julie Gibbons

The last weeks of 2012 and the first week of 2013 offered me the biggest gift of my life. That time saw me spend every day (and often nights) caring for my dearest mama as she was dying from cancer. It was at the same time exquisitely painful and beautiful.

We were luckier than many people - we'd had time to prepare for the end. You see, she'd been diagnosed just over a year previously. But I'll let you into a secret, you can never really be truly prepared for what it means to see your closest and dearest face the end of their life. So many rich lessons. So many laughs. All those tears. Kisses galore. I can feel my heart expand into my whole chest even as I write this and think of it.

It was, quite literally, the darkest of times. Mum became very ill in the weeks approaching winter solstice and it seemed to be relentlessly grey and wet outside, amplifying the already persistent dark we get used to during midwinter in Scotland.

But there was treasure in it, oh so much treasure! The tealights glowed against the darkness and our chakras were balanced beyond measure with repeated plays of our favourite CD. It was a sacred experience. Fecund. Many life changing teachings and illuminations.

One teaching trumped them all. One illumination outshone the rest.

That lesson was love.

We - each and every one of us - have access to an infinite wellspring of love. When we need to, we can tap into it anytime. Honest.

Sometimes we need to give it and oft times we need to let go and simply receive ...

I am not a natural nurse. I don't suppose many of us are. Caring for your dying mother, it comes as no surprise, is not all glorious and temple like. It gets messy - and I don't mean just in your mind.

Each day brought us many new challenges, most of which were completely outwith our ken. The sheer relentlessness of it was a surprise. The practicalities of it all, a mystery!

All of this meant that I sometimes found myself sitting outside in the car taking very deep breaths trying to prepare myself for what I was about to face when I walked through her door. There was a constant level of high anxiety, the like of which I'd never before experienced.

But when I did walk through the door, everything changed. I was enveloped in sheer, loving calm. The anxiety vanished and the love took over.

But our senses were still on high alert and whenever I left her, I was aware of the anxiety creeping in to overtake, to prevent sleep, to colour every single moment. And that's when I began the mantra

Breathe in love. Breathe out calm.

So even if I wasn't in her presence, I could still wrap myself in the comforting love and calm I felt when I was. Love got us through in the end.

Love helped me deal with what was to come next. When I begin to lose myself in all of the hurt and the loss that hovers, waiting to hijack my senses, I breathe in the love.

Her love. My love. Your love.

We are all love.

Julie Gibbons enjoys art journaling, journal therapy and mixed media. Her passion is self discovery through intuitive, creative practice, to reveal personal patterns, symbolism & archetypes of the true self.

Blog & Website + Etsy

Meet the Dreamers: Julie Gibbons

Hello creative friend. I’m Julie Gibbons : artful self-help guide. What that really means is that I share my personal stories and artful techniques to help women invoke the creative magic they need to discover their whole, true and best self. I combine art and journal therapy with the psychology of self to tap into soul wisdom and experience personal growth, healing and transformation.

I’m based in bonnie Scotland and work from home alongside my internet entrepreneur husband and home-educated teenage son.

I’d love to connect with you online : Blog & Website | Facebook Page | Etsy Shop | Instagram | Pinterest

Here are three of my favourite quotes. They might also sing to you:

1. It is better to do one’s duty, however defective it may be, than to follow the duty of another, however well one may perform it. He who does his duty as his own nature reveals it, never sins. ~ Lao Tzu
2. There are things we feel to be good and true, although from the point of view of intellect and calculation remain inexplicable. ~ Vincent van Gogh
3. Heroes – in myth, literature, and real life – take journeys, confront dragons (ie problems) and discover the treasure of their true selves. Although they may feel very alone during the quest, at its end their reward is a sense of community; with themselves, with other people, and with the earth ~ Carol Pearson