Getting Unstuck | Give yourself permission to create bad art

Sometimes part of our “stuckness” is a paralysis caused by the desire for perfection. I love what Christine Paintner writes in her book The Artist’s Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom

Our focus here is on the process rather than the product and on allowing the expression to come through as fully and authentically as possible. When judgments arise in the process, simlpy notice them with curiousity and compassion and contemplate where else in your life these voices arise. Allow the art-making process to become a container for your internal awareness, much like meditation practice. The same is true for writing: allow yourself to express whatever is true for you in the process and gently with compassion for yourself, notice where the blocks, judgements and voices arise. Give yourself permission to make mistakes, to make “bad art” or to write something that doesn’t sound even close to perfect. This is the way we begin to cultivate inner freedom, by allowing ourselves a full range of expression as a journey of discovery.

This idea of a “journey of discovery” rather than a quest to create perfection is incredibly liberating. You are creative. You have a desire in your soul to create or you wouldn’t be here on this site reading this post. Release that. Give yourself permission to create “bad art.” Failure is integral to producing anything real. And if you don’t give yourself permission to fail, you will find you do not create anything at all.