ARTFUL [ahrt-fuhl] (adjective) done with or characterized by art or skill
Artful Alchemy is about transforming a common life into your golden life through skillfully facilitated art practices.
Why art?
Art is a jumpstart into a new way of thinking, a new way of feeling, a new way of being. The shift can be explained with just a little left-brain/right-brain theory.
The Western World values the left-brain and downplays the value of the right-brain. Most of the time most of us are operating from our left-brain because that's what we've been taught to do. That’s all well and good. The qualities of the left-brain are very helpful and necessary if we’re to get anything done.
However, the predominant voices in the left-brain are the Ego and the Critic. The Ego’s like the map-keeper; it holds the map to things-as-they-are and has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, because then it always knows where we are and what’s going on. So, the Ego, while a useful character for holding us together, takes its job so seriously that it really doesn’t allow us to make significant transformations. The Ego’s sidekick is the Inner Critic. The Inner Critic is the one who says, “You’re not smart enough, rich enough, good enough, deserving enough.” So the Ego says, “Let’s not change a thing,” and the Critic says, “And even if you wanted to, you’d never succeed.” Not a very conducive dialogue for life transformation.
That’s where the power of the right-brain comes in, with a whole different set of qualities and voices. If you want to know what your heart truly wants, the answer can only come through the right brain. If you want to connect to your higher wisdom, to spiritual guidance or to the pure spark of the inner child, then tune into your right-brain. This is where the truly life-transforming ideas will be found. If you want to break out of a dull, common, status-quo way of being and create your golden life, your right-brain is key.
But how to tune out or bypass the dominant, left-brain voices of the Ego and the Critic? Stop speaking their language. Their language is verbal; it’s words. Have you ever noticed how you tend to go ‘round and ‘round about a problem, with the same words replaying over and over again in your head? Break the cycle by breaking out of verbal mode.
What is the language of the right-brain? It’s non-verbal; it’s visual; it’s art.
Try it sometime. If you have been stuck in some way, or if you are facing a challenge that you can’t quite figure out how to tackle, stop thinking about it in words. Draw a picture instead. Draw a picture of how things are, then draw another of how you want things to be. I guarantee you’ll get a whole new perspective on the matter.
