Challenge the thief.

If we listen to that whining, negative inner voice going on in our thoughts we will be stopped by fear and accomplish very little in our Art practice.

What we need to do is stand up and realise that the problem is not the whole world just the thief inside our head, we have let the thief, fear and our own critical inner voice defeat us.

We must determine not to do what the inner voice says, because you cannot quieten it but you can use it to your advantage.

When the inner voice says, “don't do it you will fail,” we must say to ourselves “ I will do that and see if I will fail.”

When the thief says, “ don't talk to strangers about your Art, they will laugh at you and see you are a fake,” so you say “I will talk to strangers about my Art and see if they laugh at me and call me a fake.” Most times the strangers who have come to your Art show want to talk to you and are delighted when you do chat with them and talk about your Art.

The thief is afraid and will do anything to stop you from taking a risk and doing something new and challenging, so now when the thief says, “wait you better not do that, what if it doesn't work and people will criticise you and you lose all you have built.” now say, “then lets do it and see if I lose everything.”

Use that negative inner voice, the thief, you cannot remove the fear but you can use it to motivate you to do challenging and exciting new things.

So often the things we fear never happen and the thief will lie to you and use shame to try and stop you, so next time that negative voice, the thief tells you don't do it, they will dislike you, do it and see if they dislike you.

Challenge the thief and do what it says not to do, it will change your life for the better.