Define Perfection

Perfection: an exemplification of supreme excellence; is one definition according to Webster Dictionary. 

But perfection is a perception and no one views it the same way. 

Art is extremely personal, it reflects our souls and everything that we are made of from the inside out. That is the reason why it hurts so much when it is not accepted by others. But we can not take things so personally. Everyone has their own opinions and those opinions should never dictate your abilities as an artist; at the same time we should always keep an open mind when reviewing other creations. 

The idea is to always stay true to yourself. As I said before creativity is a learned talent but the abilities reside in the corridors of our thoughts. It is up to us to seek them out. Go on a gather information mission and store as much data in your brain as possible. This task is a never ending one, the more information the better, don't worry your hard drive will never reach its capacity we have unlimited space in our brains. The trick is to be able to recall it when you need it. It is there trust me, seek and you will find. So open your mind and let the data find its home.

An open mind is the handiest tool anyone can possess and make work in their favor. Keeping our thoughts fair and balanced create a new world for which we can reside. It is adventurous and extremely educating and can even help you to create new habits which can lead to uncharted territory. Sounds pretty cool, huh? What have you got to lose, give it a try?

Find a comfortable spot to do your work. Some where that is just your own, no one is

Photo taken by Rebecca Hosking, Cheekwood Gardens, TN

allowed in your space. You need to feel free and comfortable and be able to be as vulnerable as your willing to allow yourself to be. That is when the purest feelings start to take over and feed your creative self. There is a book called, The Artists Way, By Julia Cameron. I highly recommend this book it certainly changed my life and is a good starting point to release your creative spirit.

Because art is subjective we have no right to make a harsh judgement on anyone's creations. Remember what I said in our Daily Positive Reinforcements? Always have a grateful heart, and treat others as you wish to be treated yourself. 

Who are we to judge another persons visions of their creativity. When we put it out into the world looking for validation, I guarantee, you will not reach everyone. Art is subjective to say the least, the level of perfection is reached through a gut feeling. Listen to your heart, it will tell your mind's eye when your master piece is finished. 

Nothing is Certain and Sacrifice is Always Steep

I find comfort in dependability, however, living a life of chaos and uncertainties is the life of a creative person. Often times we do not know where our next paycheck is coming from or if one is even coming at all. We spend a lot of time alone and contemplating.

Contemplation is a valuable tool for the creative types. It keeps us in check so we do not stray too far from the real world. I myself contemplate scenarios of destitute situations, because I fear them so much, I'm always sure to work stable incomes while pursuing my dreams. When I was younger, I wouldn't think twice of chucking it all, selling everything I owned and simply seeing where the map would take me. But as I got older, my fearless spirit started to fade. Please do not get me wrong, this may work for some favorably, but for me, I need certainties. 

These certainties are not easily obtained. Working a stable 9 to 5 Monday through Friday is a sure way to give you that certain income until your next big break, but like all good things, nothing is permanent. That stable income zaps us of our energy and freelance way of

Photo taken by Rebecca Hosking, Mexico

thinking. After all, it is the sense of freedom that feeds our creativity.

Balance is key and not only do the creative types have issues with balance but we all do at some point or another. We are truly all in this one together; work life, home life, spouses and children all demand our time and in order to be successful in any venture you embark on it takes 100% of your efforts. You know what they say, nothing worth fighting for ever comes with out a fight.

This is where I need help and cannot offer any sound advice but in fact would love input from those of you who have found a balance. My career consumes majority of my life. I remember when I first started out and I wanted to be a songwriter. I recall a conversation I was having with my brother in law. I was complaining about how hard it was to make anything happen with my music, his comment to me was, "well, exactly what have you been doing in order to make it as a songwriter?"

This statement immediately sent me in the defensive mode and I argued I was doing a lot, then after re-evaluating my progress I thought that maybe I was not really doing enough. This sent me into a total, off the charts, obsession to never be called out like that ever again. So I plunged forward and did not relent. From that point on I was full speed ahead. Now if someone asks me that question I have a whole laundry list of actions I have taken, but that laundry list of actions came with a price. 

It is easy to say you are willing to sacrifice anything in order to achieve a certain goal but until the sacrifice is actually made you do not fully appreciate the magnitude of your choices.

I'm still working on balance and I guess I will forever be stumped by this dilemma. The business of creativity is at times frustrating and extremely difficult to make a steady balanced living. We have to go into this work with the attitude it is what it is, I am who I am and there fore I will always be me. The statistics of successful high paid creative people is a small one, but that does not mean you cannot be who you were meant to be. 

The business in fact exists because someone made it, no reason why that someone cannot be you or me? The trick is to not let the pursuit dictate every move. It is a demanding job to say the least, the clock never stops for a creative person. If I knew a way to always be available for every opportunity out there without sacrificing quality time with others I would jump on the chance and employ the strategy forevermore. 

I do not think we should ever settle for second best and I definitely do not think you should ever give up on your dreams, but be mindful and always move forward with a pure heart. Stay true to yourself and the rest will follow, at least that is what I always tell myself.

Creative Personality Perks

There has been countless studies about humans and their personalities, particularly that of us creative types. I think understanding how we think and operate would open some insight to living more innovative lives.

We are quirky in the best sense of the word, in my opinion. Speaking from my own experiences, I can admit I do walk to the beat of my own drum as do most of us. I think
because I have also worked in corporate America for a fortune 500 company for countless years, that has allowed me to develop a better balance between my left and right brain. None the less, I have always favored my right brain and it pretty much dictates all my actions even when it is borrowing from the left side.

I do not know if the rest of the world is as obsessed with our brains and its functions as I am, but it is a fascination that has afforded me my ability to create a personality out of thin air. As a writer you want your characters to be believable, the best way to do that is to build on their personality. Visual descriptions play a large role in creating a believable character but descriptive personalities put you in that character's head. There is no one person that is identical to the other, even twins. We all are who we are, good, bad or indifferent.

Having said that, our brains work through patterns, we are creatures of habit. Anyone who says creativity is inherited, I beg to differ. It is a learned skill that can be tapped into if you understand the thoughts as they pass by in your head. If you are not normally creative you can retrain your brain by practicing and creating new habits.

If you are interested, visit and join this website: LUMOSITY. It is a series of games that help exercise and sharpen your brain. There are also several fascinating articles that explain the science behind the site.

Creative types are often tireless when it comes to creating we can go on for hours working on our art but tend to get exhausted quickly when undertaking a chore we do not like. It is common for us to be extremely intellectual, however our intelligence is questioned by others because we are caught in deep thought often. It goes with out saying we are viewed as irresponsible, but I feel our playful nature and warmheartedness is misunderstood. In fact, we are very reliable and have incredible self-discipline. We tend to be our own worst critics.

Our imaginations dominate our daily lives, sometimes we do tend to revel in both reality and fantasy indiscriminately. We like our privacy, but know how to play the game and enjoy interacting with others depending on our mood and what frame of mind we're in at any given moment. We can also be extremely prideful as well as humble; being very proud of our creations but hoping someone else notices without having to fish for the compliment.

We do tend to be a bit more open minded, we are conservatively rebellious. We are argumentative when we are passionate about something, but are good listeners. We evaluate all possible scenarios before drawing conclusions. Politically we are more centrists than anything else. Our sensitivity is unsurpassed we are extremely empathetic because we feel deeper than most and it often sets us up for pain and suffering. The good news is we use those emotions to create and we find our creations very cathartic.

In conclusion whether you view these traits as good or bad our art depends on these attributes. If you are looking for a more creative life start paying attention to the world around you and try to see the same view from several different angles. We could all learn from each other and we should always keep an open mind regardless which side of our brain is dominant. Understanding our thought process plays a huge role in creating a more friendly and creative environment.

Write What You Know

Life repeats art because our art reflects our lives.

As a writer I have been taught my whole life to write what I know. Unfortunately I took that very literally at the beginning of my career. I thought well heck, my life is kind of boring, I better get out there and do some living.

I became quite obsessed with traveling and tried to get out more and meet new people, although I was having the time of my life it started getting costly and hard to keep up with and my writing was still stale and stagnant.

Once again something so simple can so easily be left unnoticed with out an outer voice there to guide you. Through my pursuit of living more, so I'd have something exciting to write about, I realized a thing called an imagination. We can feed ourselves ideas through our living and people we encounter but it does not have to be so literal. I think the idea is to tap into the emotions and then use those truest sentiments to create an elaborate exciting story. How things went down may not be true but the conviction was real and that is what your readers latch on to.

Universality is the key, tap into something we all know and feel, so that gives your readers the ability to put themselves in your shoes. I do not know how many times I heard a song on the radio that provoked an emotional outburst, or a passage I read, where I thought to myself I know exactly what they mean. They could have been on a boat ride and I may have never been on a boat, but if the emotion fit, I cared no more about the ride but the feelings the story provoked. That opens a world into your mind and you start putting your own story in its place. It took a total stranger to reach out to me in order for me to grasp this concept, yes, I admit, sometimes I'm a little slow on the uptake.

Once I received an email from this stranger after she had heard a song I wrote about my

Pencil Sketch by Rebecca Hosking of her Mother

Mother's passing, called, YOUR NEW HOME. She went on to tell me about her daughter who recently had passed away from leukemia. She told me it felt like I wrote the song specifically for her. Losing her child was the most devastating moment in her life, as the loss of my Mother was for me. She put her story into mine and felt comfort from it.The positive spin on something so heart breaking is that by her reaching out to me she gave me something back, for both of our losses we gained something new, a comforting SMILE.

 

That was the most rewarding moment of my life, I knew not only did the song mean something to me, but I was able to touch a universal emotional chord, which meant I was doing my job right. I think that moment impacted me so profoundly it changed my writing for the better from that point forward. I will forever be in debt to that woman, she gave me the courage to continue pursuing my music and writing career from a new perspective.

Smile for a Smile

What we put into the world is what we get back. It is a profoundly simple statement that surprisingly goes missed in many cases. Eye for an eye is usually viewed as a negative action being avenged by another negative response, and so the cycle begins and never ends.

What if we replaced the negativity with a positive affirmation. It is not difficult at all if practiced on a daily basis. We have the power to dictate our moods and our reaction, if we are used to one way it may take some practice to change but, change is always possible.

No better time than the present, I see no need to waste any more seeping sand in the hourglass, this is an easy fix. Every morning when I get up, I like to write in my journal, I start each page with something I'm thankful for, then end each entry with a prayer toward someone who has wronged me. I pray for their minds to be opened to new things and positive thinking.

Photo taken by Rebecca Hosking, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Smile for a smile. Walk with your head held high. Flash those pearly whites to every person you greet on the streets. Empathy is a powerful tool to understanding, if you do not get the response you were hoping for say a prayer for that person to be relieved of their burdens. A prayer and a smile goes a long way.

Embrace Your Creative Self

Each and every one of us possess some level of creativity. Some of us fear it and some embrace it. While others may even find it challenging to tap into those regions of their minds. Regardless what category you fall under, the creative realm is at times a difficult one to balance with the world around us.

Creativity is not a job but it is a way of life; how we see things around us. There is not one person that looks at the world in the same way. We share our visions and versions of truth through our art. Be it a painting of a hillside with an abandoned farmhouse or a song written about love and loss, or maybe you work in a tech savvy position, then your view will be seen as a computer language only a select few can read. Regardless your medium if you created it you and only you, own its beauty.

Artwork created by Rebecca Hosking

I have been a writer for many years, I started writing poetry, then songs, then short stories and books. I am also a painter and a musician, these things create who I am and dictate my moods and emotions through all my senses. It feeds my daily thoughts and actions. I create therefore I am.

Ask yourself what feeds your personality, I want to challenge the non creative types to tap into your deepest fears and embrace them through your creative resources. It can be arduous for someone not used to communicating with their inner self, but it can be very enlightening as well. Only by facing our deepest demons can we find the path to our purest self.

This is a personal blog about my journey to finding and embracing my creative self. At times things get chaotic and overwhelming but I always have my outlets to help keep me focused on the tasks at hand. Creativity is my religion. I speak to my higher power through my words I write, a painting I paint or a song I compose. I find strength in my art. I look for direction in my creativity and it never fails me. I thank my higher power for these gifts by using them.

Life is a challenge to say the least, balancing a creative world with a secular one needs to be a compromise. When the compromise is reached there can be no other result but happiness.

I look forward to taking this journey together, I want to share my anecdotes in hopes my readers will share with me a few of their own. I want to reach people who have embraced their creativity as well as those who are not sure they have any in their souls at all. I want to show that each and everyone of us hold some type of gift that no one else possesses. What are you waiting for? Find your voice and do not be afraid to let it be seen and heard.