{"id":422,"date":"2013-06-10T20:50:49","date_gmt":"2013-06-10T20:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laurelantur.com\/index.php\/2013\/06\/10\/2013-6-10-why-learning-how-to-box-made-me-a-better-artist\/"},"modified":"2013-06-10T20:50:49","modified_gmt":"2013-06-10T20:50:49","slug":"2013-6-10-why-learning-how-to-box-made-me-a-better-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/2013\/06\/10\/2013-6-10-why-learning-how-to-box-made-me-a-better-artist\/","title":{"rendered":"Why learning how to box made me a better artist"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Just
Just go paint some shit , okay?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There you are, remote in hand, the kids driving
\nyou nuts, trying to read the mood of your significant other, feeling
\ndefensive and\/or pouty.<\/span>  <\/span>Out of the corner of your
\neye, you see the table, piled with clutter, where, if you weren\u2019t so “lazy” and “untalented,” you would be creating. But the thought of creating is so blah, who cares?<\/span><\/p>\n

Its not that you don\u2019t have the time, because you
\nsure keep up with that favorite show (or two or three) week after week.  It might be that you think you don\u2019t have the
\nenergy, because, like everyone with responsibilities, you put your own creative
\nneeds at the very bottom of your priorities list. <\/p>\n

\"Guess,
Guess, what I am doing here? I’m dancing. I’m sharing a picture of me, painting badly, dancing badly.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is exactly like exercise. Oh the dread!  It is so awful, doing that work, and the
\nresults of it aren\u2019t immediate. And if you\u2019ve never been fit, you really, truly
\ndon\u2019t know what those benefits feel like. 
\nIt seems like something only other people have access too.<\/p>\n

Creativity is like that too.  You need it. 
\nIt is part of what makes you a healthy human.  But it is hard to get going on it, and often
\nwhen we do take time for our creativity, the shit we create is disappointing. If
\nyou think it is something that only those with talent can benefit from, if you
\nmake yourself an outsider to those benefits, then the ugly, messy,
\nuncoordinated, stupid stuff you are making seems like evidence of not
\nbelonging.<\/p>\n

Which is bullshit.<\/p>\n

Do you hear me?<\/p>\n

I used to think of myself as a non-athlete,
\nclumsy, completely lazy. I just couldn\u2019t do it, didn\u2019t have the energy, looked
\nstupid. Just no<\/em>. <\/p>\n

And then my girlfriend, who is completely
\nathletic, started taking boxing. \u201cYou should do it!  It will help you be more assertive in your
\nclassroom!\u201d  So I tried it, just to prove
\nher wrong, just to see that look on her face when she saw that indeed I
\ncertainly did not belong in any boxing gym. <\/p>\n

Unfortunately for me there were a lot of other
\nbeginners there. Unfortunately for me, the coach didn\u2019t give a crap that I was
\nhopelessly untalented when it comes to anything athletic. She just yelled at me
\nto keep going.  She urged me to come back.  It didn\u2019t matter that I would never compete,
\nit wasn\u2019t about that at all.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve gone from prancing around like a total dork,
\nflailing my limp wristed hands at the bag to really freaking punching<\/em> it. I
\nwent from feeling like I was going to puke after 30 seconds of barely moving to
\nbeing able to get through 5 rounds.<\/p>\n

The point of this story is that way too many
\npeople think that art, writing, dance, acting or music is only worth doing if
\nyou are talented.  That to be an amateur
\nis to make a fool of yourself.  But I\u2019m
\nnot asking you to make a fool of yourself in front of the whole world. I will never actually fight anyone,
\nand I\u2019m not asking you to perform or to try to get into galleries. I box in the
\nsafety of a boxing gym that supports me doing it for my health. And I support
\nyou being creative even if you suck at it, because I want you to see that you
\nstill get something out of it.  And that
\nyou get better.<\/p>\n

\"I
I hate what I painted, but I did it!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One day, you will be ready for the mind blowing
\ntruth that out of tune singing can be as beautiful as opera, skill-less
\npainting as emotionally moving as the Sistine Chapel. That someone with two
\nleft feet can dance a powerful truth that moves you to tears. We have to stop consuming and outsourcing our creative spirits. We need to create, for ourselves and for each other. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

So give yourself an hour or two. Send the kids to
\na friend\u2019s house, create some privacy and quiet, hide that fricking remote, and
\ndo it.  Don\u2019t know where to start?  Use my free eBook or video series<\/a>.  Be open to what comes up.  And then come back and share it with me here, in the discussion below. Because, if you didn’t notice, I shared with you pictures of me painting, in my pajamas<\/em>, AND! I think my painting sucks. Your turn!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There you are, remote in hand, the kids driving you nuts, trying to read the mood of your significant other, feeling defensive and\/or pouty.  Out of the corner of your eye, you see the table, piled with clutter, where, if you weren\u2019t so “lazy” and “untalented,” you would be creating. But the thought of creating is so blah, who cares? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[69,68,47,78,65,80],"class_list":["post-422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-body-image","tag-health","tag-inhibition","tag-intuitive-painting","tag-movement","tag-painting"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}