The Thriving Christian Artist
The Thriving Christian Artist
Artistic Sensitivity: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Embark on a transformative journey with me, Matt Tommey, as we explore the unique emotional landscapes of artists through a Christ-centered lens. This episode promises to equip you with the tools to turn your deepest sensitivities into strengths, sculpting a thriving spiritual and creative life. We'll dive deep into the nuanced world of artistic emotions, recognizing their dual role as sources of divine inspiration and potential stumbling blocks. Discover how to navigate criticism with poise, viewing it not as a personal affront but as a stepping stone to professional and personal refinement. I'll guide you in cultivating a supportive community that values trust and celebrates diverse perspectives, ensuring that your sensitivity becomes a wellspring of artistic expression and growth.
In our heartfelt discourse, we'll unravel the art of setting healthy boundaries, mastering the delicate balance between open-hearted expression and self-care. Learn the power of "no," the wisdom in discerning feedback, and the practice of daily disciplines like prayer and meditation that ground your creative endeavors. The journey doesn't end there — I'll share insights on how to confront conflicts with grace and maturity, employing biblical principles to resolve issues swiftly and preserve precious relationships. Tune in to discover how these practices can not only safeguard your emotional well-being but also enhance your craft and deepen your connection with God and others in the artistic community.
Looking for a supportive Christian community you can grow with? Join us inside the Created to Thrive Artist Mentorship Program at http://thrive.matttommeymentoring.com/tryctt and join today for just $14.
Welcome to the Thriving Christian Artist, the podcast where we hope you connect with God, to bus through the roadblocks that have held you back for years, create the work you love and really live the life you know. God created you to live as an artist in his kingdom. I'm Matt Tomah, your host. Let's get started. Well, hey, my friend is Matt. Welcome again to the Thriving Christian Artist podcast. Super glad that you are here. We're going to jump into something that I think maybe a little bit of a touchy subject for for all of us as artists. I want to talk about the whole idea of artistic sensitivities and our sensibilities and the way that we interact with the world and with God and, most importantly, others. Because how many of you know that the way that God wired you as a feeling and sensing being is beautiful. It's the way that he's given you to to see and hear him and the world and interact with others to see things from a different perspective. But how many of you know, just like everything in the kingdom of God, you can have a natural bent toward a lot of different things. You know emotionalism, being really sensitive, being really emotionally. You know, over sensitive in in some things because of pain or trauma or loneliness, or insecurity or lack of confidence or whatever, and those things, even even though that emotional sensitivity can be a gift from God, when it's not brought under the Lordship of Christ and when it's not managed in a beautiful way that allows you to both hear his spirit and be who God called you to be, it can be a deficit, it can be a danger actually to you. It can be something that that drags you down and actually keeps you from the very things that God is calling you to.
Speaker 1:You know, I can remember so many times in my life where I was in situations where maybe somebody would have to bring criticism in my life or my music or for maybe at my job or maybe at a church I was working at, or even in my, my art in the early days, you know, as I was getting started and and trying to do things, and I can remember some of those times just having to bite my tongue because I was like how dare they tell me that I need to change anything, or how dare they step on my feelings like that and and tell me that what I'm doing is not exactly right, and I can remember the pain and the frustration of being in those emotions and being in those feelings and feeling like there was nowhere that I could go, where that wasn't just going to be absolutely overwhelming, and instead of my emotions informing me to be able to take something to the Lord and deal with it, or come up a level in my life where I needed to or believe the best from somebody that was actually trying to help me, not hurt me, those things actually became defining moments that drug me down and that caused me a whole lot more pain than they did help. You know, over the years, having mentored now thousands upon thousands of artists in our creative to thrive artists mentoring program, I get to see all sorts of emotional sensitivities coming out Good ones, not so healthy ones and I'm always trying to help people be able to walk in a way that again honors who you are and honors the sensitivities that God's given you and, at the same time, doesn't allow those things to rule you. And so I want to give you five things today that I hope will help you to to get past. You know, we talked about the good, bad and the ugly. Today, maybe we get past the bad and the ugly and we get into the good of having emotional sensitivities, and how do we walk with those in a healthy way that honors the Lord, honors other people and, at the same time, honors us and allows us to walk in a really healthy way?
Speaker 1:The first thing I would say is you got to have a balanced perspective. You got to realize that when you know, most of the time and again there's always you know outliers, but most of the time when your relationship with people and they're giving, bringing you know, constructive criticism into your life not personal attacks I'm not talking about that but constructive criticism You've asked for feedback. They're giving that to you in as loving a way as they can. You have to have a balanced perspective and realize that this person is not trying to kill you. They're not trying to to beat you over their head. What they're trying to do is bring you up another level, and so I want you to begin to to try to reframe your view of criticism and critique and feedback in your life as opportunities for growth rather than opportunities.
Speaker 1:You know to feel like you're being personally attacked. You're not going to agree with what everybody says. You're not going to agree, maybe, with some of the things I say on the podcast, or maybe something that a leader in your life says, or another artist or a friend says, but instead of viewing that as a personal attack, be able to take that and just you know. Sometimes you just take it to the Lord and you say Lord, I don't know how to do that. That didn't resonate with me, but I'm choosing in this moment not to allow that thing to define me. I'm choosing to be balanced with this thing rather than go off the deep end and take, as John Bavir says, the bait of Satan. And take the bait and just run with it and go down the road that God never intended for us to go down.
Speaker 1:Number two, I would say a big, big, big part of being able to do that is being able to be a part of a supportive, loving community. We, as artists and, of course, as believers, need Christian artists. We need Christian community. We need people that support us and love us, a safe place right for, for sharing in our life, our experiences and our challenges and the insights that we may have. And so being a part of a community allows you to realize that people are all different and and you realize that we all have different perspectives, we all have different ways of of sharing things, but you also start in community. You start to gain Trust, you start to get each other's heart. I have your heart, you have my heart. You realize that we're for each other. We're not against each other. We can support each other. We want to, you know, be able to give and receive Advice and encouragement and challenge, but we do it in a place where the assumption is love, not attack, not fear, not Confrontation. That's so important.
Speaker 1:I find that so many people out there that are Operating from a wounded framework, one that they've not allowed the Lord to come in fully heal anytime. Anything comes into their life that is a little difficult to deal with. Maybe somebody looks down the wrong way, says something the wrong way, gives them a, some criticism that they weren't expecting or didn't ask for, or whatever. That thing can come into their heart and actually become like an Arrow that wounds them and hurts them in a huge, huge way. And listen, that's not God's best for any of us, and so part of the antidote Not only is it having a balanced view of yourself in the world, not only is it learning to give that to Jesus, but it's being in community with others so that you learn to trust people and you bear Each other's burdens, realizing that everybody is different.
Speaker 1:Number three, I would say, is really all about learning Healthy boundaries, you know, learning to say no, learning to manage your time effectively, learning to distinguish, in those times that you need to, between constructive criticism versus demeaning comments. I mean, if somebody just obviously being ugly to you and being demeaning to you you know I'm not telling you. Have a balanced approach you may just need to say you know what, I don't accept that. Or you may just need to say you know what. Thanks for the feedback. And as my friend Dan McCollum says, when if somebody prophesies over and you don't know it doesn't resonate with you, just flush it. I love that advice and sometimes you just gotta flush it. Sometimes there are gonna be things that you have to do that are just like. You know what.
Speaker 1:I'm separating myself from that, and so part of being an emotionally and spiritually healthy Person is learning to be able to maintain a healthy balance with your art and your spiritual life with the Lord, your personal life with others, the things that you're allowing people to speak into your life, the things that you're not willing for people to Speak into your life on, or maybe some people can speak into some others, and you know some areas and others people Can't speak into, to other areas. But learning to set boundaries so that you can have healthy Interactions with God and with yourself when you're up with others, that is a huge part of beginning to manage and and cultivate health within your own emotional Sensitivities because, listen, it's in those areas when you don't have boundaries we allow people to step over your boundaries is in those areas where you don't have real Relationship, is in those areas where you go off the deep end. Those are the moments where the enemy comes in and frustrates you and leaves you out to dry, hangs you out to dry and tries to take advantage of the weaknesses that are in your heart, rather than allowing those to be moments where you can grow in the Lord. Number four, then, I would say, really is all about spiritual and emotional health with the Lord, and that is just doing the stuff that we all know that the Lord invites us into the daily disciplines of prayer and meditation and reflection and imagining with the Holy Spirit and studying our Bible and being in, you know, community with others Is that is that place also of engaging in activities that bring you life right Creating art, I mean. My family tells me all the time you're my happier person when you're in the studio, you're a better person when you're in the studio, and so whatever it is for you whether it's creating or exercising or journaling, or hanging out with friends or going to a museum or a show or whatever it is do those things that promote spiritual and emotional health in your life. Why? Because when you're a healthy and whole person and when you're operating at at full capacity, when the enemy comes in like a flood and tries to shoot an arrow of disappointment or offense at you, you're going to be much, much, much better able to, um, to deal with that in in your life.
Speaker 1:And then the last thing I would say is this you know, part of, I think, for artists especially, learning to deal with your emotional sensitivities is realizing that you and I are not perfect. We are people that are in growth, in a growth process, specifically in regards to our art, and so most of us need to be continually learning through workshops and courses and seminars and and listening to people that are that are further along that we are in all areas of life, but especially our arts, so that we can continue to grow into the things that God has for us. One of the things that I find that is one of them. The times that people get most offended is when the when they think that they are just the cats. Meow, they have nothing to grow in, they're just everything's great. And then somebody comes in and gives a suggestion or or brings a critique and all of a sudden, wow, there's a fence. Why? Because they're not realizing that they're in a growth process. They're all, we're all still learning.
Speaker 1:And I think, just having that posture of, of teachability and being able to to realize, hey, I've come a long way, I'm not where I was, but I'm not where I'm going, I'm going to embrace the process and the learning that can come. And you know, the last thing and I didn't mean to say this because I had five things and it was going to be great, but I'm just going to say this Number six, number six, I would just say when it comes to emotional sensitivities, one of the things that the enemy will will will want to get you to do is to stew on that thing by yourself or with a few friends and not really deal with offense with other people and I can't tell you how many people over the years that I've met who you know you. You find out six months a year, two years later, three years later, five years later, that you said something in passing, or or maybe you talked about something in a way that that you know maybe wasn't the best that day or whatever, or they heard it wrong or whatever. It wasn't the best that day or whatever, or they heard it wrong or whatever it was, and something inside of them took that as a major offense and a wound and that thing festered in their heart for months, weeks, even years, and you didn't know anything about it. And I just think, oh my gosh, if they would have just practiced Matthew 18, that when you have an offense, go to your brother quickly and deal with it. Talk to the person about it, even if it's just saying you know what? I know you said this the other day and it might not have meant to come out this way, but this is the way I heard it and I just wanted to bring that to you so that we could talk about it, because I don't want anything to be in between us. Listen, if you will do that in your life. I promise you the Lord will use that as a maturing process in your life to help you deal and grow in the area of emotional sensitivity. Listen, my friend, I love you. I hope you know I love you. For years. I've loved you on the podcast and at conferences and our mentoring program and wherever you might be be listening to me. I want God's best for you. I want you to be walking in everything that he has for you and I'm so glad that you are here with me here on the Thriving Christian Artist podcast. We're always here to help you in whatever you need help with.
Speaker 1:If you're considering becoming a part of the Creative to Thrive Artist Mentoring program, like I know so many of you are, and you're just considering, is this the right time? I don't. I don't know. I'm, or maybe you're thinking well, when I get this done or when I get that done? Listen, here's your sign. This is the sign. This is the message you've been waiting for.
Speaker 1:Join us. Join us. We've got a $14 trial going on right now. $14 for your first month. You get access to the complete program all the live coaching, all the resources, all the live Q&As with me, everything that you need to start thriving as the artist that God called you to be, and not only resources, but in the context of a loving Christian community with other artists that love Jesus and are growing their art business, just like I'm sure you want to do as well. We'd love for you to join us. The link, of course, is in the show notes and nothing would give us greater joy than to see you pop in there this week and start an incredible journey with us to helping you see everything that God's got for you in your life. I love you, my friend.
Speaker 1:Thanks for spending time with me today here on the Thrive in Christian Artists. Make sure you're subscribed, make sure you review, make sure you're sharing these episodes on social media with others, and remember until next time you were created to thrive. Bye, hey. Thanks so much for spending a few minutes with me today on the podcast. I hope it's been a huge encouragement to you on your journey as an artist. Hey, also, before you leave, make sure to hit the subscribe button so you don't miss any of the other episodes of the Thrive in Christian Artists podcast, and also be sure to connect with me on Facebook, instagram or at my website, which is matttommymentoringcom. Until next time, remember you were created to thrive. Bye-bye.