Self awareness & Mindfulness
Self awareness and mindfulness are two most important things I want to stress, hopefully through my art.
Self-awareness involves being aware of different aspects of the self including traits, behaviors, and feelings. Self-awareness is about focusing on the reality of your behavior and not on the story you tell yourself about yourself. Mindfulness is about being curious and accepting, rather than judgemental. Being mindful helps us to reconnect, with ourselves and with the world around us.
https://lifeskillsthatmatter.com/self-awareness/
It takes deep honesty
When was the last time you asked yourself how you’re doing today? What emotions are you feeling?
Why are you feeling them?
Don’t judge your negative feelings.
All feelings are good as long as you’re paying attention to them.
Through art making process, I’ve learned…
- Get to know myself
- Be gentle with myself
- Accept whatever happens
- Let go of expectations
A piece of good art
To me, it’s when I’m honest with myself, be gentle with myself in the ugly phase, accept however the art looks like at the end, letting go of expectation and keep working on it. Then, unexpected beautiful accidents happen. It became a good art itself.
It’s a life-long work. They are vital skills for us to be happy, and yet our school taught us so little about them.
It’s not about stopping negative thoughts and having only positive thoughts.
It’s about simply being aware of their existence without judgements, whether we like or dislike them.
It’s about accepting and being with all thoughts & emotions peacefully.
When we are too attached to our own ideas, we overwhelm ourselves with stressful scenarios, repeatedly playing ‘only’ in our head.
This triggers fight or flight response, an reaction that fools us into making wrong decisions.
Being mindful helps you to focus on the present moment, not worrying about the future or being too attached to the past.
Thus, we make better decisions with a clearer mind at present.
Art makes me mindful
When I’m only focusing on the process at that very moment, without thinking about the end result.
I’m also mindful when I’m doing art or staring at a piece of art.
I’ve become more mindful because art makes me curious.
It makes me slow down to observe all the shapes and colors.
It makes me connected with the environment around me, rather than my phone screen.
Mindfulness is connection.
This how I want my art to serve you,
a daily reminder for you to be mindful.
Over a year ago,
I started to think about why I make art and why my art is necessary. I couldn’t put the words down because I didn’t have much clarity. It’s life-long journey and I’m so happy I get to share it with you.
I took a free online course that helped me understand a lot. Mindfulness for Wellbeing and Peak Performance.
A dear friend recommended it to me. It helps me greatly. (It’s not affiliated in any ways.)
Feel free to check it out.
Be gentle.
Be curious.
Don’t judge.
Whoever is reading this, I want to give you a virtual hug.
Thanks for caring to read my words and I care about your mental health, too.