art

Finding creative freedom

As creatives, we don’t get to decide what of our work will resonate with others and what will fall flat. There is no way of knowing which pieces will find an audience and which will die a quiet, lonely death. Create anyway. Share your work anyway. Create some more.

As people who are called to creative work, our joy and satisfaction must come from the creative process itself or we will find ourselves disappointed and frustrated when our work doesn’t get the response we desire. We have no control over the response to our work. All we can do is create and share. The rest is out of our hands.

The audience gets to determine whether or not they find value in our work, but their response can’t be our focus or we will create fearfully. When we create in anticipation of a response, it changes the way we create. It holds us back and stifles our true voice.

The only way to do work that matters is to create it without the audience in mind. What they do with our work is none of our business. Focus only on listening to your inner voice. Create that which your inner voice begs you to get out.

Listen for where the fear and discomfort is, and lean into that space. The work you are most afraid to do, that part of you that you are most afraid to share, that is where your best work will be found because that is the work that only you can do.

Create from where you are most vulnerable and tender. Share that part of yourself that you fear most being rejected for. This is you. This is your work.

As you create and share, your work will evolve and change, and you will evolve and change through the process. You may never become fearless, but through the process of creating and sharing bravely, you will begin to fear less. You will find a new kind of freedom.

On Writing – Holistic Budo

The following is a resharing of the webpage copy about my other blog ‘Holistic Budo: The Way of the Gentle Warrior’

Holistic Budo originally started as an attempt to tell stories about my martial art journey and how it has shaped and informed the person I am today. Hence, the name Holistic (the interconnectedness of things) Budo (martial arts), or how my whole life and person has been positively affected and influenced by my martial art practice. 

As the years progressed, however, I began to understand that the lessons learned in martial arts and the lessons learned in life are not separate. In this way, the concept of Holistic Budo became a self-fulfilling truth. This led to the tagline: As in life, so too in budo. As in budo, so too in life. 

Many blog posts later, Holistic Budo is now a sort of personal, daily meditation wherein I write advice on how to live a more open-hearted, compassionate, and creative life. This advice is mostly written to myself, as I need it as much as anyone, but it is also written to my daughter’s future self in the event that I am no longer around to guide her directly. As long as my writing exists, she will have a way to look to me for guidance should she so desire. 

You can read Holistic Budo HERE. If you find value in my writing, please leave a comment letting me know what you think or what your personal experience is with the topic of a given post. I write for myself, but I share my writing so that others may benefit from it as well. It is good to know that what I am putting into the world is making a connection and that I am not alone. 

Robert Van Valkenburgh

Journey of Imperfection

One of the most difficult things about writing is knowing where to start. A blog is no different. 

As creatives, we tend to have high standards for ourselves and for the work that we share with the world. We want our art to be perfect before we put it out there for others to interact with. 

The truth is, however, perfect does not exist. Perfect is a lie we tell ourselves in order to hide. It is a shield we use to cover up our vulnerabilities in an attempt to keep them hidden away from the world. 

But the best art is fueled by vulnerability. It is formed from the broken pieces. It is shaped by the hurt, the pain, and the confusion of being a sensitive human in an often insensitive world. 

This is not to say that art is sad. On the contrary, art is hopeful, uplifting, and inspiring. Art is transformative. It connects us soul-to-soul and tells us that we are not alone. 

And in that spirit, I write my first blog post.* My goal with this blog is to embrace both my imperfection and the imperfection of the world around me, and to simply write. 

Unlike my other projects which have specific external focuses (foci?), each representing a different part of who I am, this blog and this site is just about me. I will use it to tell stories, share my ideas and opinions, and to wax philosophical as whim dictates. 

My main goal here is to follow my muse wherever she leads and to share what I find with anyone who is willing to join me on this journey of imperfection. I am not asking permission, I have no one to answer to besides my own conscience, and there are no rules other than that I remain true to that which calls to me. 

And so I will write… 

Regards,

Robert Van Valkenburgh

*I have been posting to my other blog, Holistic Budo, for several years, but this site serves a different purpose for me than Holistic Budo has. While Holistic Budo is largely advice written to myself, my writing here will be largely about myself, my experiences, and my observations.