The thief who will rob you.

I heard this quote and it really stopped me in my tracks, by Jim Rhone,

“ do not worry about the thief who will rob you of your money,

worry about the thief in your mind who will rob you of your promise.”

That really hit home to me as I reflected on this statement,“ the thief who robs you of your promise” and that thief is within.

This negative voice within, the thief that always wants us to stay in our comfort zone because it is safe there. We might be a total failure but it is safe and we will make very few mistakes and never try anything new, but we are safe and if we do want to try new things the thief will talk us out of it, before we do.

I had told myself for 20 years that my paintings explained themselves and I didn't need to sell.

I was wrong, they don't explain themselves, it was an excuse, I let fear control me as I was worried what others would say about me if I wrote stories about my paintings.

I also needed to learn to sell but the thief said no, you will look stupid and people will criticise you, but I went and learned to sell anyway.

How scary was that to do until I learned how to sell, then it became good fun and thief went quiet.

I decided to write a blog to try and help other Artists not make the same mistakes I made, the thief told me, who would want to listen to you, who do you think you are to write, people will laugh and criticise you, because doing it really scared me.

I decided to just do it and I told the thief even if only one person reads it then I am blessed, the thief is very quiet now.

I have now learned many new skills, but the thief told me to be fearful of doing it each time, but I did it and the thief is quieter now, but still comes back when I decide to do something new..

Artist friends do not let the thief within you, not only steal your promise but also steal all the productive years that are wasted fearing things that most likely will never happen.

The thief stole many years off me I can never get back, please don't let the thief do that to you.

We need to use this voice within that always tries to stop us.

When the negative voice comes don’t just jump and do what it wants, wait and say what if I use this inner voice as a compass and when it says stop, I say go.

When it tells you that people will laugh and criticise you, take the attitude, ok lets see if that happens, I will do it now.

You can defeat the thief, if you use it as a compass.

Now when it comes to my art and business and I want to do something new and exciting and the thief tells me to be fearful and scared, I think, ok you have turned up, then this must be the right thing to do, so I do it.

If you have a great idea and your thief tells you its very scary don't do it, do it, most likely it is the right thing to do.