What inspired me to continue on the path of intuitive painting was the sacred beingness found in the present moment while creating. This world is very much revolved around constant stimulus and action, as a result many of us are rarely ‘spiritually available’ to be able to receive the insight needed for them. With the constant clamors of life, they clog up the line of communication from the divine intelligence within you and your finite mind. While awareness of your insight being received is one of the steps, what is also needed is stillness. Stillness might scare some people because they may feel their worth is defined by their actions, what they produce. But in order to feel what aligned actions are necessary, sitting quietly with your soul in the present moment is important for your inner guidance to come through clearly.
Think of this mental image: you are trying to look at your reflection in a river’s current. No matter how much you strain to see a clear image, it will never happen as long as the current runs. When there is no longer a current, and the water becomes still, that is when you can clearly see a reflection of yourself. We work the same way. Nothing is clear when the mind is busy. So finding ways to release and ease the mental clamor will open you up to being still with your soul, fully in the present moment and available to receive insight.
One of my favorite techniques to clear away the anxious energies within me is intuitive painting. This is one of the practices that helps tremendously with clearing my energy field and centering myself. As intuition is only found within the present moment, anxiety is just the thing that takes you to either the past or future. The present moment is all we will ever have and it is up to us to choose to be fully there. Why not surrender to the Now moment and plant our feet in this life is to accept the journey of our soul’s growth. With intuitive painting, you are throwing away the need to correct things, plan things, judge things, labeling things, etc.
This is not the kind of exercise that has a plan of what the end product will be, because that automatically takes our mind to what the future will look like and causes us to leave the present moment. With this kind of painting, it’s all about letting go. There will be no need to have prior experience, knowledge about art or colors, the need to make things look pleasing, or having an idea of what the painting should look like. It’s just enjoying the present moment, practicing just letting go of the need to control. Letting your intuition be your guide and putting the conscious mind on the shelf. You will only need your heart, because this is all about feeling, not thinking.
This will take practice to allow yourself to just be the observer and not let your ego butt in to make judgements or accusations. Again, just like strengthening a muscle, the more you practice the stronger you will get, the easier it will be. If the first few tries are difficult, do not judge yourself. One of my favorite sayings is: you don’t have to be amazing to start, but you have to start to be amazing. Not that this exercise is for the painting necessarily, but the strengthening of the mental and spiritual muscles; the painting skills will come along with it believe it or not. Give yourself the kind of love that makes you open to accept the growth that is available to you.
During the process of intuitive painting, there is always the thought of control and expectation. That is just how the mind is wired, to attach itself to forms to identify itself with them. Who you really are free of all forms, is the formless. You are your divine essence, energy, nature. No forms or labels can truly define you. Some may help point to the truth of who you are, but they are not the definition of you. As I gained awareness of these thought forms, I also became aware of what the mind was trying to do, attach to these thought forms. Continuing through this process of being the awareness, and staying connected with my divine essence, the more my mind lost its grip on me.
The mind’s motive is to identify with forms and have you believe that those forms are your identity. The action of you believing whatever the mind is presenting to you is its exact life force. Awareness of the content of the mind and awareness of the motives of the mind will weaken it, bringing you peace, making it easier to be fully in the present moment without the continuous compulsive thinking in the background. Intuitive painting helps me stay in my awareness and encourage the actions of freely expressing myself without the mind dictating my every thought, every action. With letting go of the identification of the mind, authentic expression is able to take place. It shows me deeper parts of myself that planned actions would not be able to do.
Final Thoughts
It is so freeing to let your true inner self express itself without any rules or structures keeping it from being truly authentic. Your inner self deserves to have time to free itself and show you its divine expression with all of your worldly worries on hold. You deserve to give the kind of love that allows you to create, free of judgement and restriction. You might surprise yourself:)