What Inspires you?-Break free!

Here in Uganda we have one of the most inspiring guy who has become a celebrity with his “IT’S FRIDAY!”, to put you all to speed is a video of the before of this man enjoying his friday evening in a remote place while listening to his favourite song and he says “I may not be having money now but by close of day I will have got it” and the after bit he is looks he has got the money, quite inspiring and his video plays every friday on most social media platforms.

Before we continue here are some challenging questions I would like to pose to you. Who inspires you? What phenomenon inspires you? Why? What does inspiration give to you? A story is told a gentleman was walking through an elephant camp, and he spotted that the elephants weren’t being kept in cages or held by the use of chains. All that was holding them back from escaping the camp, was a small piece of rope tied to one of their legs. As the man gazed upon the elephants, he was completely confused as to why the elephants didn’t just use their strength to break the rope and escape the camp. They could easily have done so, but instead, they didn’t try to at all. Curious and wanting to know the answer, he asked a trainer nearby why the elephants were just standing there and never tried to escape.

The trainer replied; when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.” The only reason that the elephants weren’t breaking free and escaping from the camp was that over time they adopted the belief that it just wasn’t possible.

Well the moral of the story, No matter how much the world tries to hold you back, always continue with the belief that what you want to achieve is possible. Believing you can become successful is the most important step in actually achieving it. So what is holding you back from reaching your personal development. You may need to pay a price for the better good, it may be quitting a job, walking away from a relationship, relocating to a new place the list can go on but are you ready to get out of that comfort zone.

Here is one of the ways of bringing your inspiration to light.

Practice- Symbolic art work (painting, clay work etc.)

A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different concepts and experiences. Symbols take the form of words, sounds, gestures, ideas or visual images and are used to convey other ideas and beliefs. 

By expressing your story through art, movement, poetry, and other non-verbal or metaphorical ways, you engage both the rational (left) and intuitive/non-rational (right) hemispheres of your brain. The rational hemisphere is more involved than the non-rational one is when it comes to processing language and thinking logically. The non-rational hemisphere of the brain thinks in pictures and symbols, the primal language of Source and the universe.

Symbolism is to convey the hidden meaning to the reader or listener. It tells us about artistic expression and represents abstract ideas.  However, it is not limited to poetry and literature. Symbolism is one of the most important elements which gives depth to art; it can be the color of the painting or the depiction of characters that are significant to symbolic to some specific themes. A painter uses symbolism when he wants to put emotions and ideas in the picture which we can’t experience with our five senses. It’s all about showing instead of telling. Here are a few examples of symbolism in art.

An example is how the painter expressed his feelings

The Crying spider – Odilon Redon

This piece shows a crying spider with nine legs painted in charcoal. The human face on the nine legs with eyes unfilled and hollow tells the hollowness of the desires and world. Spider has the meaning of how we construct the web of our choices, and then we trap ourselves in them. The tears are symbolic of the regrets in life. The colorless background stands for the fake lives we are living in. “The creative process, so far as we are able to follow it at all, consists in the unconscious activation of an archetypal image and elaborating and shaping the image into the finished work. By giving it shape, the artist translates it into the language of the present and so makes it possible for us to find our way back to the deepest springs of life.” – Carl Jung 

Every individual can, as Jung did, use art to bring forward messages from his or her own personal unconscious. 

Put in practice

• Draw or paint your emotions. In this exercise, you’ll focus entirely on painting what you’re feeling. 

• Create an emotion wheel. Using color, this activity will have you thinking critically about your emotions. Examples is the Plutchik’s Wheel is a useful tool.

• Make a meditative painting. Looking for a creative way to relax? Have trouble sitting still to meditate? Meditative painting might be just the thing you’re looking for. No painting skill or experience necessary – only a desire to relax and become more creative. 

• Collage your vision of a perfect day. Think about what constitutes a perfect day to you and collage it. What about this collage can you make happen today? 

• Make a mandala. Whether you use the traditional sand or draw one on your own, this meditative symbol can easily help you to loosen up

Hope this has brought some insight to you. Please air out your views leave a comment we would love to hear from. For more on our Self-mastery program don’t hesitate to reach out to us.