"To dedicate myself to the cultivation and maintenance of creativity in myself and others. To focus on artistic growth as a platform for personal enrichment, expression and a path to true happiness. To move forward with the understanding that living life true to oneself is the best way to make a difference in the life of others."
Mission Statement
Tiffany Bisconer 2008
Why a Mission Statement?
A mission statement can otherwise be known as a statement of purpose, which is a helpful tool to utilize as we go through life. Taking the time to focus on the mark we want to leave within our lifetime helps to reassign us to living a life of personal purpose. At times we can become so entraped with the concrete callings of our daily responsibilities that we lose track all together of our understanding of what it means to succumb to the calling of our own rooted desires. By committing to a mission statement we are committing to offering intent to our life path and attempting to give our many desires a rooted focus. Taking the time to evaluate what means the most to us will help keep us on track in living life parallel to our dreams.
Looking forward, take a moment to draft up a "mission statement" for the remainder of this year and beyond. Grab a journal or a blank sheet of paper and take a moment for yourself to explore your personal plan of action. Make sure to write with no boundaries and try to brain dump as many ideas as you have before narrowing down choices. You can use the following questions as a guide to brainstorm the most fitting statement of your core goals.
-What are the top 3 goals you want to accomplish in the next year?
-What are 3 steps you need to take in order to begin each of these goals?
-What core values do you find the most important in your life?
-What kind of a difference would you like to make in your time on this planet in your own life and in the life of others?
-What inspires you the most?
-What makes you feel truly happy?
-Imagining that there was nothing stopping you, what would be the ultimate height of what you want to do and/or create in your lifetime?
When you are finished, take a few moments to brew over everything you have written, scribbled and drawn. Are there any themes that jump out at you? What core values seem to take precedence? Of everything you have jotted down try to compile a concept into 3-4 sentences on what your main statement of purpose is. Also remember that this is never a final draft as the year, and your life in all aspects progresses you will more than likely adjust according to new developments and realizations. What is at our core will typically shine over each decision we make, if we allow ourselves the time to bring our individual values to the surface. Make sure to keep your papers! It is always inspiring to look back and see where a new idea has begun.
I wanted to offer this as food for thought for anyone who is interested in focusing creative and personal goals as a guideline for living life with their core values embedded in every step taken..... Enjoy the exercise!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Cultivating Optimism
"I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else"
Winston Churchill
Optimism and the habit of positive thinking have shown to increase healthy adaptability to life events as well as fortify the experience of life in a beneficial way. Having a positive view on life leads negative events to roll off of your back and at the same time helps you to take notice of positive life events which serve to affirm your belief that the world offers positive opportunities. Some of the benefits of maintaining a positive outlook are:
-Better emotional and physical health
-Lower stress levels
-Greater persistence in achieving goals
-Higher levels of overall accomplishment
-Better overall quality of life
Believe it or not, most stress we experience comes from our own thoughts. Though we all have certain patterns of mental processing and response, it is more than possible to train ourselves to become more optimistic. Changing our negative thought process begins as a conscious decision to exchange negative thoughts with more positive ones. Once we have made that decision, the rest is practice to create something similar to “muscle memory” in regards to thought production. Being willing to examine our specific thoughts and taking the time to examine thought patterns can change our perspective on our life and alleviate the stress caused by our own negative and essentially self-destructive thoughts. The concept of “thought replacement” is quite simple, yet the process of accomplishing it takes time and can feel almost impossible at times since negative thoughts can feel so embedded because they happen automatically. The goal is to catch negative thoughts, look at them objectively and immediately shift them into a positive affirmation instead. Acting with the support of positive thinking instead of looming negativity will lead us to much greater outcomes in all aspects of personal existence. This practice can change our view on ourself, our life and the way we see and appreciate others.
Life is a work in progress and we have more power than we sometimes lead ourselves to believe when it comes to the outcome of events in our own lives. How we interpret circumstances as well as how we interpret our part in them can drastically affect their result. If we believe in ourselves, and believe we can accomplish something, more than likely our reality will reflect that belief. If we believe we cannot, the same rule applies itself. In addition to establishing a more positive thought process, being able to recognize and capture positive events in the world around you will also help to act as affirmation that positive things can and do happen. As an exercise try the following for at least one full week:
Cultivating Optimism
-Carry a notebook and pen with you everywhere (it can be small enough to fit in your purse or your pocket)
-Actively search out positive events, displays of optimism, things or people that have added a positive element to your day and write them down in your book
-Take the opportunity each day to accomplish at least 3 positive actions on your own in your own life or the life of another and write them down in your book
-Write in your book 3 positive things about yourself that come to you each day
-Pick a different person each day (either a stranger, friend, family member or acquaintance) and write in your book 3 positive observations about them
-At the end of the week go back and look at everything positive you have captured!
If we tend to find ourselves always looking for the negative in ourselves and the people around us, this exercise may prove to be a challenge at first, but dedicating energy to it even for a week can help us re-evaluate our perception of life around us. Referring back to the book can also help us to encourage positive thinking when we are slipping back into negative patterns of thought.
In the realm of creativity these practices can help to increase our productivity and enjoyment in the process of making art as well as give us inspiration to continue when we face the inevitable road blocks of life. Negativity can act as a barrier in and of itself by leading us to create excuses that inhibit our likelihood of approaching our creative projects. By eliminating personal creative time, we then perpetuate a cycle of negativity by not focusing on the aspects of our life that bring us happiness and supply us with meaning. To understand and attempt to tackle the impact of negative thoughts by redirecting them into positive thoughts and positive action could be the primary key to our enjoyment in the experience our true potential.
Winston Churchill
Optimism and the habit of positive thinking have shown to increase healthy adaptability to life events as well as fortify the experience of life in a beneficial way. Having a positive view on life leads negative events to roll off of your back and at the same time helps you to take notice of positive life events which serve to affirm your belief that the world offers positive opportunities. Some of the benefits of maintaining a positive outlook are:
-Better emotional and physical health
-Lower stress levels
-Greater persistence in achieving goals
-Higher levels of overall accomplishment
-Better overall quality of life
Believe it or not, most stress we experience comes from our own thoughts. Though we all have certain patterns of mental processing and response, it is more than possible to train ourselves to become more optimistic. Changing our negative thought process begins as a conscious decision to exchange negative thoughts with more positive ones. Once we have made that decision, the rest is practice to create something similar to “muscle memory” in regards to thought production. Being willing to examine our specific thoughts and taking the time to examine thought patterns can change our perspective on our life and alleviate the stress caused by our own negative and essentially self-destructive thoughts. The concept of “thought replacement” is quite simple, yet the process of accomplishing it takes time and can feel almost impossible at times since negative thoughts can feel so embedded because they happen automatically. The goal is to catch negative thoughts, look at them objectively and immediately shift them into a positive affirmation instead. Acting with the support of positive thinking instead of looming negativity will lead us to much greater outcomes in all aspects of personal existence. This practice can change our view on ourself, our life and the way we see and appreciate others.
Life is a work in progress and we have more power than we sometimes lead ourselves to believe when it comes to the outcome of events in our own lives. How we interpret circumstances as well as how we interpret our part in them can drastically affect their result. If we believe in ourselves, and believe we can accomplish something, more than likely our reality will reflect that belief. If we believe we cannot, the same rule applies itself. In addition to establishing a more positive thought process, being able to recognize and capture positive events in the world around you will also help to act as affirmation that positive things can and do happen. As an exercise try the following for at least one full week:
Cultivating Optimism
-Carry a notebook and pen with you everywhere (it can be small enough to fit in your purse or your pocket)
-Actively search out positive events, displays of optimism, things or people that have added a positive element to your day and write them down in your book
-Take the opportunity each day to accomplish at least 3 positive actions on your own in your own life or the life of another and write them down in your book
-Write in your book 3 positive things about yourself that come to you each day
-Pick a different person each day (either a stranger, friend, family member or acquaintance) and write in your book 3 positive observations about them
-At the end of the week go back and look at everything positive you have captured!
If we tend to find ourselves always looking for the negative in ourselves and the people around us, this exercise may prove to be a challenge at first, but dedicating energy to it even for a week can help us re-evaluate our perception of life around us. Referring back to the book can also help us to encourage positive thinking when we are slipping back into negative patterns of thought.
In the realm of creativity these practices can help to increase our productivity and enjoyment in the process of making art as well as give us inspiration to continue when we face the inevitable road blocks of life. Negativity can act as a barrier in and of itself by leading us to create excuses that inhibit our likelihood of approaching our creative projects. By eliminating personal creative time, we then perpetuate a cycle of negativity by not focusing on the aspects of our life that bring us happiness and supply us with meaning. To understand and attempt to tackle the impact of negative thoughts by redirecting them into positive thoughts and positive action could be the primary key to our enjoyment in the experience our true potential.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Artistic Endurance
I stumbled upon the idea of artistic endurance today as I sat down to write and felt the emotional and physical exhaustion sink in. Since writing is as much, if not more, tedious work as it is expression, I felt so drained after the first hour that I found myself wanting to take a break. Partially because of the content of my current project being controversial and highly personal in nature, and partially because of the intense focus it takes to break through the interruption of unnecessary cognition, I found myself losing force much quicker than usual. BUT, instead of getting up and attending to the many things waiting for my attention, I sat there and practiced the art of building artistic endurance even in the face of exhaustion. I made a mess on the page, but accomplished much more than I would have if I allowed myself to withdraw and in essence in pushing past my tolerance level I made an opening for myself to sit even longer next round.
In the physical arts, such as dance, endurance is a critical part of training for obvious reasons of being able to physically withstand the demands of the artistic medium, but visual and literary arts need the same training to withstand the emotional exhaustion inherent in the process of creating meaningful work. Leaning how to train in building artistic endurance with a paintbrush or through key strokes only extends our breaking point to allow us to quit only when we feel we have given it our best. Even if the physical act of creating isn't tiresome, the process to infuse our creation with life is.
In the physical arts, such as dance, endurance is a critical part of training for obvious reasons of being able to physically withstand the demands of the artistic medium, but visual and literary arts need the same training to withstand the emotional exhaustion inherent in the process of creating meaningful work. Leaning how to train in building artistic endurance with a paintbrush or through key strokes only extends our breaking point to allow us to quit only when we feel we have given it our best. Even if the physical act of creating isn't tiresome, the process to infuse our creation with life is.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
