When fear meets clarity

“Moonlight floods the whole sky from horizon to horizon; How much it can fill your room depends on its windows” – Rumi 

I love this Rumi quote for its simplicity.

How much light do we let into our lives? How much beauty, how much focus?

Lately I’ve been feeling the pull to draw inwards, stay super focused, and just finish projects that have been lingering.

When we focus on just one project at a time, there’s much less space for the usual excuses to crop up. Have you ever said the following? I have!

• I have too much else to do
• I don’t know what I’m doing yet
• I don’t have the right tools / equipment / supplies to make this work

These excuses all feel incredibly legitimate in the moment, and yet they can allow a subtle, quiet fear to stay in the drivers seat.

It’s amazing what happens when we seek clarity.

My newest painting, the right direction

One of my business secrets is that I don’t feel confident taking photographs (for my website, my shop, social media). I have all kinds of limiting beliefs about myself (I can’t take good photos, I’ll always need help, etc.), and those fears have definitely slowed me down along the way and left me feeling intimidated.

I’ve known that sooner or later I’d have to face my resistance directly and learn the camera, and yet I kept prioritizing other projects.

This dance went on for months (months!).

Last week I decided to try a different approach. Instead of working on multiple projects throughout the week and never quite getting to the photography, I scheduled several days to work just on photography.

No distractions. No excuses.

And here’s what I did: I read the camera manual for hours and played with the camera settings. I set up photo shoots and took dozens of pictures. I pulled those images into photoshop and explored changing the settings until the images looked as clear as I wanted them. I didn’t settle out of a desire to simply be finished.

Showing the detail of a matted print

Sure, there were moments of fear and resistance. There were moments where I wanted to work on something else instead but I pushed myself to keep trying.

And then, after just a few days, the photography project was done.

Done?

After months and months of putting off the work and prioritizing other projects. After months of telling myself that I wouldn’t succeed.

Fear and clarity met and clarity won.

When you feel yourself making an excuse for pushing back a project, think first: is there any part of this project that you’ve been unwilling to face? Are you afraid, even just a little bit?

Once you identify that fear, breathe into it. Your fear wants to keep you safe from failure, but you are already safe (to experiment, learn, grow, change). The worst that will happen is that you learn something new to help you the next time.

It feels great to do the thing you think you can’t do.

Really, really great.

With love,