Because I’m incorporating art making as a daily practice this October, I was eager to find this list I wrote in my journal the last time I was doing a daily art challenge. Dare I admit that it was in June 2015 and that I stuck with it for three whole days? Well, even that is part of the process, I remind myself.

24 life lessons learned through art:

1. Be willing to jump in even when you feel like you don’t know what you’re doing. You MUST start where you are.
2. Breath and relax into it. Enjoy the process.
3. Stick with something until its obvious conclusion.
4. Things probably won’t work out how you expect.
5. Really, really focus on the object of your attention.
6. Look beyond what you SEE to what else might be there.
7. Think outside the box – how could this be approached in a unique way?
8. Be adventurous. Have fun! Bring the joy. Open up. Loosen up.
9. Keep at it, and you will keep learning and improving with each and every effort you make.
10. Be willing to make mistakes. Allow them. Embrace them. They make you more free and more of who you really are.
11. Be you. Be true to who you are – don’t try to be Van Gogh. Try to be Vicki. Don’t try to create the Mona Lisa. Create something unique and authentically YOU.
12. Begin your approach thoughtfully, quietly and inquisitively. Approach with a spirit of curiosity and wonder.
13. Be fully present and available in the moment.
14. Things take time. Allow growth to be a very gradual process and to happen in its own time.
15. Show up with your whole being, with all of you.
16. Things do not have to be perfect to be meaningful or wonderful.
17. Keep asking what appeals to you and what makes you breath easier, and then do that.
18. Remember that every single experience provides a lesson, something that you can learn, and provides the potential for growth.
19. Approach creativity itself as a practice. Creativity is one of the ways God speaks to you and through you.
20. It cannot be rushed, forced, figured out, cajoled or pushed into place.
21. It isn’t about the end result. You don’t have to know how it’s going to all turn out. It’s about fully experiencing each moment as you go along.
22. Your part is simply to show up – consistently – and let it find its way.
23. Trust the process.
24. No holding back. Go for it!

I love how I can go back through these art lessons and apply them to my entire life. I am finding that my approach to art, and to life, is beginning to reflect these lessons. If you’re curious, which I hope you are, go back through the list and see how each of these applies to your own life.