You have permission to be wild.
You have permission to create your most brilliant work.
You also have permission to produce mediocre work.
You have permission to sleep in when you want, and you have permission to play hooky from work when you feel like it.
How does it feel to receive my permission to be yourself? Kind of weird, isn’t it. I mean, who am I to wave my wand and say that you’re free to do this or that?
Yet permission – or lack of it – is one of the biggest issues standing in the way of creative people enjoying their talent. We wait for permission to:
- be loud
- be ‘over the top’
- take risks
- try a new medium
- create according to our own rhythm
- say what we really want to say.
The problem is, we seek permission outside of ourselves. And guess what? That’s never going to come. When it does, you’ll likely shun it, preferring instead your own independent path.
Write your own permission slip. Consider this to be your global permission slip to be and do exactly what you are moved to do. What permission do you need to feel fully expressed, fully and creatively exuberant?
Share your permission slip in a comment below. Yes, you may.
Give yourself six weeks of permission to focus on your writing – your way, in your style, in my unique online class, Make Writing a Happy Habit, which starts May 16th. Get in now.
Thanks for the permission to write about my permission slip, Cynthia. I’d have to say that this is one of the biggest obstacles my generation of artist (and folk in general) have to overcome – the Note from One’s Mother to the Principal, as it were.
Recently, I consciously “retired” from an office job that was killing me, to return to not only to full time artist practice, but to a Full Time Human Being practice! Too long, all this pent-up creativity has been running a marathon inside my head, locked in as a nine to fiver by convention and the Rules of the Game.
Guess who had the only key to unlock the prison? Just lil ole me.
It seems that most of the time, only small children and elders are forgiven their unbridled playfulness. Time to break out!
Thank you so much for your blog this morning. I’m off to play.
Janice,
Congratulations on your recent liberation! You are going to have so much fun.
This permission issue is a big one – and oddly, most creative types scoff at the need for permission from others. Yet we hesitate to fully express ourselves, waiting for the wrong people to say it’s okay to be exuberant.
I question your assumption: ‘only small children and elders are forgiven… how do you know that? What signs do you see that your playfulness isn’t forgiven? I think we often make up what others are thinking. We stifle ourselves before others can do it.
I invite you to be your playful self without checking around you to see if others are ‘okay’ with it. Just do it for the sake of fun and play and know that there’s always someone else who is delighted by your expression.
Have fun playing and making your way as a full-time human and artist! Thanks for reading and commenting.
Cynthia!
Thank you for this wonderful validation, again. I recently met with my co-author. As I sat waiting for his arrival, an intense sense of “silliness” took me over. I felt silly. Silly. Who was I to think that I could write a book? And with another person? What was I thinking? Who was I kidding?
Perhaps, I need not only a persmission slip but a certification as well. So my permission slip looks like this: Caren has my permission to write her story, sing her song and is quite qualified to do so alone or with others.
Thanks.
Caren,
You also have permission to feel silly and clueless and scared. Partnering with someone is a great leap of faith and creativity. Of course it can be scary!
Biggest permission I want for you – trust yourself and your story, and enjoy singing your song! You have all the ‘qualifications’ in the world to be you.
Thank you! My new mantra: “I have all the qualifications in the world to be me!” I love it!
Thank you, Cynthia, for reminding me of I have the freedom and permission to be who I am. The more authentic I am the more joyful I become. I like to live by the motto “Don’t try too hard. More beauty arises from honesty than from perfection. I must admit, part of the fun of living is not asking for permission and doing it anyway. Off to play in the paint!
Amen, sister. Amen. From your lips to my heart. Thanks!!
I am free to fail! Weeee!
Michelle,
I love your comment – your reminder to not try so hard is helpful to me! I also appreciate remembering that the more we are ourselves, the more successful we will be. That has never been more true than now and I am grateful for it!
Thanks for chiming in!
Thank you, Cynthia, for that terrific posting. It was eye-opening for sure. I give myself permission to take risks and go for it without holding back!!
Beth,
You already are an amazing risk-taker. You are a model for permission – your book is all about that. Own it, sister!