Imperfection and Confidence

Time for a Path of Positivity post discussing confidence!

Allow me to begin this post with a disclaimer.......I'm relaying this story as it has been told to me by my family and friends.  I am not an expert in Native American History, Legends, or Folklore.  

Ok, now that's out of the way, I will share my story of how this canvas came to be and how it fits in with confidence for me.

It is told the Native American people when creating their beautiful beadwork would intentionally place a "wrong colored" bead in a pattern.  This was known as the Spirit Bead and it was to remind us that no human is perfect.  It also reminds us to strive for perfection above all else is wrong since we cannot begin to compare to our maker.

Being a musician by education/trade, we are expected to be perfect.  Wrong notes, slow rhythms, missed articulations, etc are unacceptable.  Even mis-haps that seem to be out of our control are judged very harshly and not easily forgiven.  Yeah, it's a tough world and I have to say, I'm ok with being retired from the performance part of it!  But I'll also admit, once I would make what I felt was a mistake, I felt relief and freedom.  I knew the mistake had happened and I could relax....it's like the chance for achieving perfection was the instigator of raw nerves.  Once that chance was gone, I was usually fine.  

That makes me think of the Legend.  Now, looking back, I wish I had never sought to achieve that perfect performance.  Instead, I wish I had been striving for a performance that would touch my listeners and bring them music they could enjoy.  I think I did achieve that, but at the time it was never good enough for me.  I just never seemed to have confidence in my performances.  

Ah, and there it is, Friends!  Confidence!  If only I had let go of my need for perfection, I might have felt the confidence I so lacked in performing.  If only I had taken to heart this quote ~  "Confidence is not 'they will like me'.  Confidence instead is 'I'll be fine if they don't'."  Christina Grimmie

I guess all of this brought me to my own quote, "One finds confidence when he is willing to embrace imperfection."  Me

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Thanks for hanging with me through that self exploration of confidence.  I have to say, this is what I love about Path of Positivity.  I truly believe I learn something with every project I do for PoP.   I encourage you to click over and check out what the DT has to share and read about their explorations, also.  Then share with us what you are inspired to create on the theme of confidence!  

About My Piece

I started by printing the TeePee image from Ikes Art and coloring it with Copics.  I laced black thread through the tent flap and adhered som gems from my stash.  

I colored my canvas with CTMH inks and Bo Bunny sprays.  Once it dried, I adhered the image and my quote.  

My stencil for the corner was made in Design Space from the CTMH Artbooking Cartridge.  I made the stencil and used Bo Bunny Copper Glitter Paste.  I added the gauze, arrowhead, button, and Kokopelli from my stash....yes, really, I had that in my stash!  The turquoise colored gems are from CTMH as well as the black twine.  You might have noticed Kokopelli is also very lightly stamped throughout the canvas.  This stamp was also from my stash.  The arrow stamps around the canvas are from CTMH.  

So now it's time for you to pop on over to Path of Positivity to see what the design team has to offer and check out the great prizes from Scribbles Designs, Ike's Art, Creative Bug Digis, and Decosses Dynamite Doodles!

Thanks for dropping by; I'm always happy you're here.