I Was a Smashing Success!

Hello Creative Friends,

Love my new headline. Love it that I have the guts to say it like that. I was a success at the poetry reading.

"I Was a Smashing Success"

No fear.
Read a poem.
In front of friends and strangers.
On a stage.
In a coffee house.
People laughed at appropriate places.
Applauded at the end.
I floated off the stage.

Hugs,
Diana
Have a creative day!
(I did)

What Are You Afraid Of?

Hi Creative Friends,

In the spirit of Halloween and in the spirit of my announcement yesterday that I am going to be doing a scary poetry reading on Thursday, I am going to talk about how you can use EFT to eliminate a fear of performing.

Let's use this poetry reading as an example. BTW, today I asked myself over and over if I was nervous and myself said "No." Funny, I keep waiting for the fear to well up but it just hasn't. Yay! So the EFT tapping that I did on this topic long ago is still holding.

Let's say that you think your poem is good enough to read. You have shared it with some trusted people who have given you positive feedback, but the idea of reading it in front of strangers is so scary just the thought makes your hands sweat and your stomach fill with butterflies. (So now we have physical evidence that you are afraid.) You could start there and tap that away.

The next thing I do is start listening to the internal critic, I call Blockhead. My blockhead is always full of helpful information that needs EFT. Suppose your blockhead says something like this:

Who do you think you are?

You'll just make a fool of yourself.

You don't know what you're doing

You're not a real poet.

I am afraid of being seen and heard.

You write out these negative beliefs with your version of what your Blockhead is saying in your head. Now you turn these into EFT statements and tap away the blocks to enjoying the experience of sharing your work and yourself with the world.

Even though my head says, "Who do I think I am," I love and accept myself.
Even though I'll just make a fool of myself, I love and accept myself anyway.
Even though I don't really know what I'm doing, I love and accept myself.
Even though, I am not a real poet, I love and accept myself anyway.
Even though I was always told I should be seen not heard and I am afraid of doing both, I love and accept myself anyway.

There are many more possibilities. Capturing what your blockhead is saying to you and tapping it away is a great way to get down and dirty with these outdated beliefs that are holding you back.

I hope this triggers ideas for you. If you used this material, will you share the outcome with me? How much do you listen to your blockhead?

Hugs,
Diana
Have a creative day!

Wow! Diana Takes a Giant Step

Hi Creative Friends,

I was going to title this post, "Diana takes a Leap," but I was afraid someone might misread it as, "Diana takes a leak," and that's not something I want to put out there in the universe for tomorrow night.

I am doing a poetry reading of my own poetry Thursday night at Waldo's Coffee House at 1030 Heights Blvd. in Houston, TX 77008 at 6:30 until 8:00 p.m. It is sponsored by the Women in the Visual and Literary Arts organization that I belong to. There are some very creative divas in this group. So I am thrilled to get to participate and act diva-ish too.

When I wrote the chairwoman of my intent to participate, I was making noises about being nervous and afraid because the topic is in the spirit of Halloween: What are you afraid of? Mostly I was just being clever because of the topic, but she was so kind in her reply to encourage me and tell me it would be alright, I could get through it.

If I did not know about EFT, this would be all the help I could count on. Positive self-talk. Not that there is any thing wrong with that, but we now have this new technique that can help "get through it" without the angst. And I vote for easy every time.

So many people list giving speeches as one of their biggest fears. If you had known me before I discovered EFT, you would know me for the big chicken I was when it came to sharing my work. The first time I read a paragraph of original work in a safe setting, my throat closed up and I had to get a drink of water before I could go forward, the fear was so great. I can to this day remember that I had the urge to cry and how my hands shook.

I have used EFT to overcome this crippling fear. The very idea that I am willing to stand in front of strangers and share this poem is amazing and life changing.

My goal for this blog and for Energizing Your Creativity, my business is to help other creative people have the experience of eliminating fear that keeps us from being who we really are in the world.

Life is miserable if you are someone who is creative and you make things that should be shared with the world and you can't because of fear. The inner critic, which I have named "Blockhead" tells us that nobody wants to hear what we have to say. We should be seen, not heard. We'd be better off not embarrassing ourselves. All that is hogwash, but it feels so real.

Come back tomorrow and I will post a list of EFT statements to use to help eliminate fear of sharing your work. It will also help me eliminate a few leftover fears that Blockhead has thought up since the last time I did this work.

If you don't know about EFT, be the first to write a comment to ask me for a session, and I will personally teach you if you will leave a way to contact you.

Have a creative day!
Hugs,
Diana

Post Quilt Show Buzz and Back to the Future

Hi Creative Friends,

Today is Monday and I am back at work on Energize Your Creativity. The quilt show was a wonderful energizer for my creativity, and is the main reason I make it a priority to go every year.

I got to spend quality time with two friends and fellow creative junkies, Jessica and Audrey. My dear Aunt Jeanette came to the quilt show and we met and had a great time looking the place over for a certain fabric to go with a Christmas wall hanging she is making.

As I am writing this, I'd like to tell you a bit about her. I still have designer clothes she made for my Barbie dolls when she had no children of her own and loved to spoil me just because I was her niece and clearly deserving and adorable. She sews beautifully and has only taken up quilting in the past few years. Her garden is wonderful in spite of the deer who regularly risk being blasted by my uncle's gun to nibble at the delicacies she reluctantly provides for them. She is a fabulous cook. She has raised three children who are delightful people and has a gang of grandchildren.

But ask this woman if she is creative and she will tell you "no," with great certainty. I KNOW!

My dear Aunt Jeanette is a classic case of the person I want to serve here. There are creative projects that she may have wanted to do for years but has let that voice in her head tell her that she can't for what ever reason.

Are you hiding your creative light? You can eliminate your blocks to creativity easily and be the whirlwind creator you were put on this earth to be. My goal is to help us all to do that.

In the future, I will be giving online classes to help with just that issue. Oh it's good to be back to the future.

Have a Creative Day
Hugs, Diana Meade

 

Houston International Quilt Festival

Hello Everyone,

I am celebrating my new blog by going to the Houston International Quilt Festival! Tonight is the preview night. I am so excited I can't wait.

If you have never been, you are missing the biggest creative buzz ever.

Under one roof are creative dreams come true! But that is just the beginning. There are:

Fabulous quilts: yes!
Fabulous fashion: yes!
Fabulous art dolls: yes!
Fabulous things to buy: yes!
Fabulous workshops: yes!

But best of all are the fabulous women who attend from all over the world.

I love finding a spot to sit and rest and strike up a conversation with a fellow attendee. You never know what you can learn while rubbing your feet.

I hope to share with you all I can about this great event and post some photos at night when I come home exhausted.

Here are some photos from the first night:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029548&id=1593715303&l=8331925d19

Here are some photos from Day Two:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029652&id=1593715303&l=4610361a38

Here are some photos from Day Three:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029744&id=1593715303&l=b3c3a0026b