Written by: Nicki Brown, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Your life is a work of heart and you’re creating everyday. With every thought, every belief, every word, every choice, every interaction—you’re creating. What have you created so far? If you take a step back and look at the canvas of your life, do you like what you see? Have you been creating consciously? Or have you been creating half asleep? Have you put your heart into all the pieces of your life—can you see it painted across the canvas of your life?
You may think: I’m not an artist, I’m not creative, but the truth is we’re all naturally creative in some way—we all have gifts. Inside each of us lies something we want to share with the world, some way that we want to contribute to this world—no matter how big or how small. And we ARE all gifts, inside each of us is a heart that longs to be open to life, and to be open to and shared with others, and the world.
Whether you realize it or not, your life is a masterpiece in progress and you are the artist—every thought, belief, choice, action, reaction is a colour and stroke brushed across the canvas, but what gives it shape is the intention of each stroke. The way you choose to see life will give shape and colour to what you create. Perhaps that’s some incentive to start going inward and start questioning from where we’re creating. What do I believe? What do I see? What do I think about on the daily? And why? Where did this come from? What are my choices? What am I choosing? The more we work on ourselves, the more we heal, the more vibrant the colours, the more precise the strokes—but like learning any new skill, it’s not easy, It’s hard. It takes perseverance. Sometimes you work at it for what feels like ages and make no progress, sometimes we feel uninspired and we lose our vision, the creative process ebbs and flows. It takes time. Perhaps a lifetime. Occasionally we may need to step back to get a different perspective, or step away, to rest and recharge, but we can always come back to it realigned and reinvigorated. There may be times throughout the creative process that you don’t see how it’s coming together, that you doubt the end result but you also need to trust in the creative process and listen to your intuition as it guides you. Creation demands passion, love, consistency and dedication to make it beautiful and admirable. When I say beautiful and admirable, I’m not talking about in the way you see someone’s perfectly curated Instagram life. When I say beautiful and admirable I’m talking about living a life that is authentic and in alignment with you—with your truth, your values, your desires. I’m talking about living life with our heart wide open—open to all experiences and emotions—do you dare to be vulnerable? To pour it all out onto the canvas for the world to see? To be open to experiencing life from a place of wonder, and seeing the infinite possibilities for canvas? Do you dare to paint your life boldly and unapologetically in every colour of you? The light…the shadow? The green…the blue?
Sometimes in spite of your best efforts, you make a mistake, or even several, but perhaps when you step back you see that the mistake gives it character. Or maybe in the big picture, it’s unnoticeable. Or perhaps when you step back you realize you’re not happy with your work at all, but remember —you are always your own worst critic. Are you unhappy because you think there is something else you “should” have painted, or because you admire Sally down the hall’s creation more than yours? Go back and look at your canvas and ask yourself — is this MY heart, MY vision, MY truth? Or were you more influenced by someone else? If you find you’ve left out the heart in some of your strokes, then know you’re working with acrylic paint, which is a very forgiving medium—just wait for it to dry and you can paint over it anew, and this time, make it more YOU. As I said, this is a masterpiece of a lifetime—your lifetime and you have exactly that long to re-envision it, restart it, to fix mistakes, refine techniques, mix mediums, and fall in love with the process—to marvel with awe and gratitude at what you’ve created and how it’s coming together, and to create something you are absolutely unequivocally in love with.
I hope this piece inspires you to go and paint anew, and to create a heart-centred life that is apologetically you.
Nicki Brown, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Nicki is a women’s empowerment coach and the owner of Sunflowers In Sunshowers, a company that focuses on helping women flourish through holistic and transformational life coaching. She is passionate about the work she is doing to help women love themselves wholly and live their life more fully. After experiencing a “quarter life crisis”—she struggled with her identity, life direction and overall life satisfaction—this was her awakening. She began a healing journey of self-discovery and uncovering which led to dismantle her pre-conceived beliefs and re-define not only herself but her vision of “the good life”. This journey eventually led her to realize her calling as a life coach and pursue a certification as a life and health coach. Her mission is to help women heal from their past conditioning and misunderstandings so that they can uncover their authentic selves, step into their power and create their vision of “the good life” too. To date, she has had the privilege of helping women all over the world from London, England to Portland Oregon.
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