The Importance of Saying No

It’s time for me to prioritize what my heart and soul are directing me to do.I had made a decision to start making more time to work on my artwork but I wasn’t doing it. When I first started my business two and a half years ago my plan was to work 3 days a week on my business and have 2 days to work in the art studio.

Partially this was because even though I teach my clients to value the work they do I wasn’t seeing the value in my own artwork. It keeps me sane helping me understand issues that are of concern to me or that need to be healed. It’s an important expression for my own health and wellbeing but I was having difficulty seeing how it was contributing to anyone else.

Of course as a “helper”, I was thinking about what was best for others before considering what is best for me. I can easily see my client’s lives changing from the coaching I do. They are getting out of debt, increasing their income and creating financial peace of mind in ways I couldn’t even imagine. Some have bought homes, improved their relationships with their spouses and partners, left jobs they didn’t enjoy and started or grown their businesses. I can easily see those results and it helps me see my own value.

But my art is another story.

In the past year though people have been commenting on the artwork they see behind me when I am having meetings with them on zoom. They can feel the emotion and energy from my work even though it is several feet behind me and they are seeing it through my computer screen. Friends and others who have seen my work in my home, a gallery or in my posts and have commented on how they see themselves in my artwork, that it speaks to them in some way.

An author from the Smithsonian wrote “Visual art is a fundamental component of the human experience reflecting the world and the time in which we live. Art can help us understand our history, our culture, our lives, and the experience of others in a manner that cannot be achieved through other means. It can also be a source of inspiration, reflection, and joy.”?

In other words, it reflects to us the issues we are facing and it can be a source of beauty and joy.I’d been saying I wanted to create a body of work this year but, I wasn’t actually doing it. There was always a gathering to go to, a client to meet with or something to do for my marketing. I wasn’t making art. I was doing other things. Totally valid, wonderful things, all of which were related to my goals and in alignment with my values.

These things were also the activities that unconsciously I had decided where likely to be more financially profitable.

I made that decision even though I had always made good money using my skills as an artist. This felt different though. In the past I was painting murals, creating custom stencils and wall finishes, fabrics and wall papers. The work served a tangible function. My fine art is harder for me to define.

Sometimes I don’t even clearly know what the work is about or what it’s purpose is until after I’ve created it. Visual art also has the problem of being left to the viewer to determine it’s meaning.

But my soul has been yelling at me that the artwork needs to be completed and I have been working on trusting that inner voice to support me in all ways in the world. When I looked at my calendar, I could see that I wasn’t prioritizing the thing that my soul was most calling me to do.

The author Kate Northrup wrote :“So, what is the next part of my wealth building plan?

Saying no to nearly everything and building my internal sense of trust and safety based on knowing that there will be a consistent stream of wonderful opportunities in my life forever and right now I need to say no to most of them so I can say a bigger yes to the book (or other project) that wants to come on through me. And what does saying no have to do with wealth?

Well, letting ourselves be distracted from the most important work by saying yes to everything that’s not that work is the same thing energetically as wasting our money on things like disposable fashion, food with no nutritional value, or other impulse purchases that aren’t in alignment with our values or our goals. When we double down and devote ourselves to the 20% that gets us 80% of the results, we accelerate our ability to build true assets that pay us, both financial ones and energetic/emotional ones. From here on out, I’m saying no to nearly everything so I can say a bigger YES to creating what matters (my artwork) and tending to the seeds I’ve already planted.

I’m trusting that there will be other seasons of visibility where it’s time to be out there in bigger ways, but this is not one of them. I’m in a season of blooming where I’m planted and I know enough about cycles and abundance to know that I’ll get a much richer, bigger harvest if I stick with the season I’m in instead of trying to skip to the next one."

As you read this, did you think of any area where you’re taking energy away from the things that really matter to you and working on things that don't matter as much?

I am not saying this will be easy. Our world and the people in it constantly make requests of our time. As I’ve mentioned we also tend to undervalue the things that bring us joy and in some ways think the things we love can’t possibly be the way to prosperity.

I am recommitting to my artwork and to integrating more of my artistic self into the work that I do. It is all related, although I admit I haven’t been very good at articulating what art making or creativity has to do with improving your financial circumstances. I know that they are related because I have an interest in both of these things and they both make up who I am.

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