Film Courage: What is black or white thinking?
Artist, Writer, and Board Certified Coach for Artists & Creatives, Sasha Patpatia: A monkey
mind symptom, a symptom of fear or worry. It's linear thinking it's either this or it's this.
Film Courage: Is this the same as either/or?
Sasha: Yeah I think it's the same thing.
Film Courage: What if some people say This linear thinking has served me well. I know
don't cross that street, don't do this, do that. I want to keep my linear thinking.
Sasha: I love that question. Linear thinking is not bad and we don't need
to eradicate all linear thinking for example a conclusion that is true is
when there's a red light you stop your car at the red light let's not dismantle that one,
let's keep that one for traffic laws and safety but maybe there's linear thinking in an area of
your life where we need to examine it and see if it's getting in the way of moving you forward.
Again, it's black or white thinking to think all linear thinking is bad
and we need to dismantle it. That's not true, it's not bad,
it's just bringing our focus to what is it that's getting coming up for you or
getting in the way of you doing what you love to do authentically and with ease.
Film Courage: We spoke previously about author Julia Cameron and we
both said we love her writing from her book The Artist Way she writes:
"Judging your early artistic efforts is artist abuse, this happens in many ways.
Beginning work is measured against the Masterwork of other artists;
beginning work is exposed to premature criticism shown to overly critical friends [etc.]."
Why do artists fall prey to their own negativity and judgment?
Sasha: It's the fear of success which and the other side of the coin is the fear of failure,
those are the same fear it's what's going to happen when I make it and what will happen
if I don't make it so how we express that is through harsh analysis of our work because we
really want to know if it's good enough and we really want to know if I should really be
spending my time doing this we really want to know am I going to fail at this. When I say we
our brain really wants the answers and so we try and try and squeeze water out of a rock
by figuring it out by overanalyzing, that's just what we do, we're human.
What I always tell my artists I say the process of creation and the process of
analysis are two different processes, make sure you keep them separate. We cannot analyze as
we create. I think that's what Julia Cameron speaks to when she says it's artist suicide,
we kill the dream before we even get it out of ourselves.
Film Courage: Another thing she said that I've brought up many times before in interviews
is that it's easier to get sympathy and have people like you when you're a blocked artist,
but if you're actually doing well this might be off putting to people
and so sometimes we take that on because we want people to like us.
Sasha: That's an exquisite question so yeah that's a huge part of my own personal Manifesto
and application to this work I think it goes into the struggling artist motif and this image we have
and that is BS oh my gosh it's so limiting to stay in our suffering because we think that is
our muse yes we create excellent work from our pain yes agreed I love Nirvana just as much as
the next person but the point is that is limiting that artistic suffering is a myth in fact when we
are able to thrive and heal and make it through the woods and really do the work we actually get
to know a more authentic version of ourself we we were not born to suffer we experience suffering as
a human and it's an important and integral part of our journey because trust me once we are healed we
are able to thrive we are in much more access to a higher level of creativity and artistry
and expansion than we ever thought was possible when we were keeping ourselves in suffering and
it's okay if pain is our muse we are not going to get through life painlessly there will always be
moments of pain and we don't have to hold on to it it's kind of a grief process we need to know when
it's ready to be integrated and when it's ready to be let go and a really important part of that
is mastering the skill of surrender and these are all skills that we can learn and that what a coach
what I train my clients in doing expertly to move away from this suffering and this motif and who
cares how people see you that's one of the first things it is not about the external audience the
a we tell we the artists tell the audience what to pay attention to no matter what your art form
is you're telling them they are not telling us and you think about Adele if you listen to her lyrics
that's about struggle if you think about let's say Alanis Morissette Jagged Little Pill that
put her on the map that was so you would listen to lyrics and go oh wow you felt the raw anger
and upset so she they're turning these stories of whatever whether they're based on real experiences
or not into their putting it into their music and it resonated with people worldwide yes and yeah
same for it could be men singing about the same issue doesn't have to just be but right I guess
I meant more that I think sometimes people feel shame if they're almost doing well as an artist
because there is that that that idea that we're supposed to be struggling van go no he struggled
he didn't make it until pretty much after he was gone so yeah I think that feeling shame for
finding success in what we do kind of comes hand in hand with maturing it's a maturity process too
to really make it and to define what making it means for you not what the record label tells
you not what a Grammy winning musician tells you not what the external tells you but what does it
mean to make it for you that looks different for everyone I think to carry shame with that as you
start to step into that just kind of requires a little bit of maturity along the way so it's
okay to be what I'm putting things out there and I'm okay with that and I'm I'm actually proud of
myself yeah the audience that doesn't follow you they're they're people can follow you for
a time and follow off there's always an audience for the work that you do I think Lady Gaga is a
great example to speak personally I was really not a big fan of her is when she hit the scene
at first I just didn't get it and much later in life I've become an audience member for her
and I was oh I get it I was okay and I her more matured music I so I got on her bandwagon later
on I wasn't there in the beginning that's okay for every artist that's okay your path will take
you where you go and you're going to meet the people you need to on your path when you need
to meet them and another example for my life is I loved pop punk I loved Fallout Boy and when I
was in middle school and high school and when they started to get really big I used to be oh
they sold out they're sellouts and as an older woman who has since worked in record labels and
worked around musicians and been on tour with musicians I realized oh my God this is so hard
they made it good for them wow they did that they didn't sell out they kept going and maybe I don't
listen to their music current day I'll revisit an old album from time to time but the the point
is who would who am I to hold an artist to some expectation that they can't grow in their craft
or in their field or in themselves not every album they're going to put out is going to be amazing
not everything you're going to produce you might lose some audience members but you're going to
some too by just staying authentic to your path right I always use the U2 analogy a beautiful
day and Gloria or two different times it seems in their lives and two different emotions that
you get from the song but you can stay on the path with them and realize life isn't so bad or you can
stay in the sort of this activist that there was a place for that music it was it was intense and
exactly moving I to think of Trent Reznor because I’m the biggest Nine Inch Nails fan and how how
emotional and suffering is that music right and I've been there and everyone's been there right
but Trent Reznor through the span of his career and his healing and his journey and what he's
been through and I love Trent Reznor so I follow him he's a film composer he's an Oscar winner he's
runs I don't quote me on this but I think he runs nonprofit with his wife he's expanded and maybe
this same Nine Inch Nails audience from the early 90s have don't aren't there but many of us are and
who's anyone to decide what his path and journey should look that's to me what a heal the character
arc of a healed artist is and it's not in spite of the bad times or the suffering he had it's because
of that he was so rooted in that but that's not all there is to him and his music making.