Tag: authentic

courage, Creativity, Discovery

Color Outside The Lines

by Erika K Rothwell4 Comments on Color Outside The Lines
Color Outside The Lines

“Do one thing everyday that scares you.”  Eleanor Roosevelt 

Challenge your boundaries, allow them to stretch your status quo, courageously step out of bounds at times even if not within your comfort zone and expand your creative horizons.  Protecting what we have always been, doing what we have always done will bring us the results we have already received.

Perhaps our past experiences, fears and expectations of others and ourselves have darkened the outlines of our potential, holding us back.  Sadly, we may hide behind walls containing our gifts neglecting the work that defines our unique contribution to this world.

Follow the lead of a child where lines don’t seem to exist, only possibilities.  Flawless work is not the ultimate goal and individual expression comes naturally as they move freely and fluidly through their creative process.

Through years of setting up borders and boundaries for ourselves, we unknowingly create an outline of our envisioned lives hardened with continuous and tedious strokes keeping us functioning safely within the lines.  Over time, after producing generic pictures colored within the lines of our own making with repetitive skill, it’s no wonder that creative inspiration often fades away.

Don’t let your self-imposed limitations close you in.  Allow your creative imagination the expanse of an entire coloring page of life, rendering your authentic self in your artistic expression, as you relearn to color outside the lines.

© Erika K Rothwell

P.S. I love you all.

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Creativity, hope, inspiration

Kaleidoscope of Hope – True Inspiration

by Erika K Rothwell2 Comments on Kaleidoscope of Hope – True Inspiration
Kaleidoscope of Hope – True Inspiration

Fragmented, broken pieces of myself have formed into a moving creative pattern appearing through a kaleidoscope induced image of myself. My feelings of inconsistency remind me to accept the orderliness of a divine arrangement marked with symmetry and cohesiveness to produce authentic work reflecting my individual design.

Psychology of perception ground up learning theory would state that I am a product of experience. What I see is because of what I already know. Having learned to finally tweak the vision of those broken parts into some sort of manageable recurring design for others to view plays on this well-accepted theory.  However, what is perceived still remains subjective.

Events can turn the environment causing a new realm of stability, slightly shifting the lens, and strikingly new patterns emerge.  Consider too that each repetitive pattern is continually morphing into a modified version of itself until it becomes completely unrecognizable in the metamorphosis, retaining only some of its original colors.

We can all recognize the beauty in the constantly changing visions of a kaleidoscope.  But can we accept change in ourselves?

Vivid colors surround me daily, awakening a deeply-rooted purpose to express my feelings and reflections in the form of artistic creation.  I cannot deny the profound effect of colorful displays of inspirational images on my heart.  Motivation to share and create is born from these visions of delight.  Flowers, birds, and trees as well as oceans and mountain streams enlighten me guiding my heart deeper into a natural realm of being where self-acceptance and a desire for a non-hurried lifestyle allow my dreams to thrive.

As in the turn of a kaleidoscope. creative development often remains a work in progress and a mystery.  A journey refined by every step.  Joy felt from our individual perspective of each design as seen today without our eyes on tomorrow or our hearts left in the struggles of yesterday.

It is for each of us to appreciate the constantly changing visions of our inner kaleidoscopes.

For what we think to be true, is often only true because of how we see it.  

© Erika K Rothwell

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