HOW TO LISTEN WITHIN
EPISODE #9 | CARRIE SCHMITT
Do you judge your work harshly? Do you want to create through your intuition, but don’t know how? Carrie Schmitt is a full time artist, art retreat facilitator, and author based in Seattle, WA. She began painting in 2009 after being diagnosed with a life threatening allergy to heat. Bedridden and unable to go outside for months, one day she heard a voice that said, “Now that your life is over, you might as well do what you want and paint.”
Thankfully, she listened. In our conversation, Carrie talks about how art saves her every day. How it has brought the most beautiful things into her life – giving her a glimpse of hope amidst the darkness.
Her intuitive painting process is incredibly inspiring. Carrie shares about how we need to stop judging our art as either good or bad, and instead focus on the internal process and create through that place. Because what we create expresses who we are in that moment and the skills we have now, and how that HAS to be good enough.
I think this episode is really going to speak to you on so many levels!
TODAY WE WILL LEARN HOW TO
Develop coping skills with daily practices
Not judge our art, and instead let it happen
See destruction as a necessary part of the creation process
Troubleshoot your fears
Touch your dream every day
TOP 10 HIGHLIGHTS
Everyone has limitations, but it’s up to you to decide what you do about it.
Develop daily practices that build coping skills for you, so when the big moments hit, you’re already used to doing these things, and you can cope.
The dark moments are ripe with intuition and direction, and that’s the time to listen. It’s in those moments that you will be led to your next thing. So, let yourself feel what you are feeling, especially when it’s tough.
What you are creating now is the best you can do at this moment in time. You have to be OK with that. It is WHERE you are, and WHO you are right now.
Your art is not good or bad. It’s an expression. We aren’t meant to judge it, we are meant to let it happen.
Destruction is part of the creative process. It’s hard to let go of that favorite section of your art, but when it’s holding up the rest of the piece, you need to let it go and trust that there is something better on the other side.
Focus on the small things. Daily consistency is one of the keys to success in anything.
Touch your dream every day.
Any time you step out of neutral you are taking a risk, and that’s a fact. You ARE going to fail. So instead of worrying about it, focus on your coping skills.
99% of the fears we create in our head never happens. Ask yourself - “What am I actually afraid of? What’s the worst case scenario?” Answer it. And then problem solve. We overthink things and it paralyzes us. The worst that can happen likely won’t.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Poet: John O’Donohue
Author: Anne Lamott
Book: Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker J. Palmer
Quote: “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage” – Anias Nin
FIND OUR GUEST HERE
GET REAL: PONDERINGS TO PROPEL YOU FORWARD
What is the worst that can happen? Answer it, then problem solve it.
