Losing a picture

“Secret? I don’t have any secret. I just know when I take their drawings away from them”

What? And that seems like nothing to you, Miss? Maybe she has no idea of how she is facilitating the self-esteem of the children. She is allowing those kids to express themselves as nature made ​​them.

When thoughts come to mind, our own ones or external ones, our potential comes in the middle:

Will it be good?
Am I doing it right?
Can I add this, or that…
They might not like it…
That one is better than mine…

Thanks to the teacher, this disaster will not happen; thanks because each of us is the voice through which the “Source” is expressed, and in many cases this voice crushes, manipulates, diminishes talent.

This clip from the film “Six Degrees of Separation” made me think about all the times a “picture” has remained in my hands for too long, or on the contrary, has been taken away from me before time, not to be enhanced but to be criticised.

Thus, over time, we are convinced that we are no good, that it is not for us and the art inside of us is stunned, silenced by a thousand voices. Art, of course, is any passion that we have repressed, to the point of giving it up and not even trying.

“It ‘a shame not to draw, if you cannot draw perfectly”. Richard Bandler said this and with it he was saying that perfectionism is not something that concerns us, but the system with which we were raised. When a “picture” has been in our hands for too long, with constant demands for perfection, or when we have been told from the start that we are “not capable”, our voice becomes a whisper and then nothing more.

Today, in our families and even in our businesses, we have the opportunity to be “different.” To represent to the student, the son, or the employee, the Teacher who rips away the picture when “it’s time”. It is the moment when the individual has expressed his uniqueness.

In this way, strong artists are created in life and at work.

A few days ago, I was driving in my car, after a few sleepless nights, and late for an important meeting. While the stereo was blaring, I felt excited for the project I had created and what was to come. Suddenly, at an junction, a guy looked at me and laughed. It must have been my matted hair together with my strange glasses, chosen precisely to make people laugh, or simply the facial expressions I had by singing loudly. It does not matter, because unlike a few years ago, when I would have look in the mirror quickly to make sure that everything was in place, this time I replied by laughing more and “better” than him. All of this happening while I continued my drive towards even more excitement.

I was painting my picture. I had no intention of losing it.

In his book “We Are All Weird”, Seth Godin remind us that being different today may represent a real wealth, as long as we all deliver our pictures when instinct suggests to us to do so. When you are feeling 100%, without interferences. When this happens, even mistakes become an implicit value.

Paint your life, and allow others to do the same.

If you want to share it, share it 🙂

 
“… and in case I don’t see ya…

good afternoon, good evening and good night!”…

(The Truman Show)

Virginio