What Negative Self-Talk Does To Your Drawing.
Sketchifer
Salutations, friend -
Okay,
Pencil, check
Paper - double check
The (little) voice in your head that says, “I’m no good at drawing”
😩💔
Negative thoughts are as ubiquitous as they are pernicious. A scientific study proved that when people focus on negative self-talk while they draw, it actually causes them to produce lower quality work. Perhaps obvious, but incredibly potent when you’re aware of it 🧐
Unfortunately, overcoming these emotions is often complex, and tricky. So how do we overcome a self-damaging mindset?
Identification.
Before a problem can be solved, you must know what the problem is. In meditation, “noting” is a technique used to simply identify a thought. So your brain says something dumb - you might simply comment back,
“Ah, that’s ‘negative’ talk.” 🙇♂️
Importantly, there’s no avoidance or judgment attached; we’re merely categorizing it into the thought box it belongs in (ooh thought boxes 😲). After all, we ALL experience negative thoughts, and we can’t control them - only our relationship to them.
🧠🕺
And that’s it. Awareness and metacognition has a way of uncoiling the tight grip negative evaluations have on our psyche. We begin to recognize these thoughts as separate from ourselves, which totally robs them of power.
Reframing.
What’s Actually True?
Reframing is shifting the story you tell yourself to the more charitable, realistic view. When we say something like, “I’m the worst at this,” or “I’ll never figure this out,” - is that actually a true statement?
Where does the historical, and real world evidence point? 🤔
What’s The Goal?
If the only goal was perfection, I’d feel anxious too. An unattainable ambition can only lead to disappointment. So let's change the intent. What’s infinitely better than making a perfect illustration? Having fun, and learning something new!
Drawing is a challenge; enjoy it 💜
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