I have worked with many creative people, like you, in my coaching practice. I even wrote some how-to business books for you.

But often, you, my beloved artist clients, couldn’t use my books or, often anyone else’s, even if they were well written and contained all the necessary information to get your work into the world.

This puzzled me. I would ask, and you would say something about being overwhelmed by too much information, intimidated by the idea of selling your work, or my favorite that I heard over and over -- I’m too creative to handle money.

I accepted this for many years until I realized one day that handling money required second grade math.

There had to be something else going on. I think that something else is trauma.

No amount of helpful information is useful in the face of trauma. The trauma and its consequences need to be addressed first. This was what was blocking you in getting your work out.

There is a whole body of work about how trauma spurs the creation of parts within us to protect from further trauma. If you want to read more, check out the Internal Family Systems therapy model in Wikipedia, or look for books by Hal and Sidra Stone, particularly Embracing Our Selves.

You can also start with your own experience. If you’ve ever said, “One part of me wants to go to the gym, and another part wants to sit on the couch and watch Netflix,” you’ve intuitively recognized that you have multiple parts inside. If you have ever heard your inner critic say, “Your work stinks,” you might have that part inside you also.

Before you go further, though, if trauma is running your life, get professional help. I had to do that first.

I am not a therapist. My own therapy stabilized me sufficiently to do my own investigating of these parts of myself that were holding me back. What I’m doing here is giving you the tools to do the same.

These tools will help you get acquainted with parts of yourself, especially with the ones that are trying to keep you safe by keeping you stuck without your awareness or permission.

This is the True Eyes Practice. Click here to learn more.