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Artistic

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If I say that I know someone who is artistic, what sort of image pops up in your mind? Is it a gifted painter or drawer? Most of us define art much too narrowly, and the sad part is that lots of people never fan the flame of their own creative spark because they’ve believed since they were very young that they are not artistic. After all, they are terrible at drawing!

When we broaden the definition of art to be the expression or application of human creative skill or imagination, we can include many more activities than just drawing or painting, and a funny shift in perception happens. You might start to consider yourself an artist or at least an aspiring one.

Playing music, dancing, poetry, skateboarding, comedy, the ability to quickly and effortlessly make friends, active listening, photography, or cooking are just a few examples that can be included in the above definition. Not all of us can paint a beautiful picture, but most of us do have artistic gold waiting to be mined in one form or another.

Life is much more interesting, meaningful, rewarding, and fun when we have the opportunity to express our creative talents, and this means believing we have them in the first place. I hear way too many people bemoan their lack of artistic talent, yet they haven’t even scratched the surface of where their specific talent lies, having decided that not being able to draw is final proof of their unworthiness to pursue artistic endeavors. We can’t all draw fascinating artistic designs out of our unconscious, but that doesn’t have to stop us from finding our own unique way to get inspired and to create.

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