how self worth limits your art
yesterday, in the midst of deep reflections on the tensions between art and money, I came to this realization: the (artist’s) fear of insufficiency and constant feelings of lack is simply a mirror of their self worth. in other words, the two beliefs reflect each other:
assumption #1
“people don’t value my art enough to give me attention and money”
is a mirror of —>
assumption #2
“I don’t value my art enough to ask for attention and money”
on very practical terms, if you operate with the belief that you work is not worthy — it shows. it bleeds out into your day to day existence, no matter how much you verbally state that you want money, abundance, or attention. anything you do carries about it an undertone of neediness or desperation, or prefaced with an apology. as in: sorry for calling attention to myself. is this good enough? not sure if this worth is your time, but just maybe… (does this sound familiar? I’ve been there too.)
how can others ever see your worth, if you yourself cannot?
relying on assumption #1 is easy — because it blames your lack of worldly abundance on the external world, and allows you to avoid taking radical responsibility for yourself. as in — you are responsible for everything that you’re experiencing now. the energy you receive from others is a direct reflection of the energy you give.
so what does this mean? that if you want to change anything in your external world, you have to work on the internal one. reprogram your limited beliefs about your self worth, the value of your work in the world. you must treat your art like a treasure.
now let’s look at this sentence again.
“I don’t value my art enough to ask for attention and money”
how would we rewrite this belief, and begin this progress of reprogramming?
first, I propose that if you truly had a deep sense of self-worth, you would trust. trust in your abilities, your art, the universe, the people around you, and most of all, trust in yourself. trust is not about letting your mind spin around looking for solutions. trust is the steadfast confidence that allows you to just let go.
reprogramming the limiting belief
if you truly were a version of yourself with high self worth and you valued your art, you wouldn’t even utter a sentence with “ask for attention and money.”
because there would be no need to ask. there is certainty that you will receive.
instead, you would say something more epic, like this:
“my art is powerfully magnetic, exquisitely divine, and now I offer it as a treasure and a gift to the world. I accept all that the world gives me in return”
Okay, you don’t have to say this to anyone. but say something like this (or write your own version) and see how you feel when you say it out loud. how would you go about the world, experience your day to day life — if you operated on this belief, instead of putting out work with a half-statement, half question of “am I good enough?”
it would be very different. and it’s not a one time and done thing. it requires constant reminding. so, maybe five times a day, I’d like to sit down for 3 minutes to reprogram myself.
let’s try it together, and report back what happens.