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Christmas is almost around the corner.

Gone is Halloween, gone is All Saints Day, gone are all the leaves, this is the straight line towards Christmas now. And Christmas markets.

You are getting ready for your first Christmas sale. As you gather your beautiful art work, you try out the best ways to display it. In your mind’s eye you see yourself in the market, standing there by your display… people come and go… some stop to look, some just walk by. Some will stop and you have a lovely connected chat with them.  In your studio your hands are at work packing each item carefully but your mind is in the market. You are time travelling. You are in the future, standing in the market, next to your loved art work, looking around as people come and go.

Will it be a good one?

Will people buy from me?

Do they like my art?

And on you go, without even realising, you are now on a mental trip about the beauty/value/quality of your art work.

What if they don’t like it?

What if I won’t sell a thing?

And you go in deeper and deeper…

How will I make do  if I don’t sell?

All these months of being in the studio… what was I thinking?

I hope at least I can cover my costs! All the materials…

I am so sick of these worries!

Why on earth am I even painting/sculpting/drawing/making music in the first place?

And you go in even deeper….

Am I really calling myself an artist? What kind of artist am I when no-one buys my work?

Yep, now you’ve gone all the way down!

You now hit the bottom of your pit, this big black pit that the negative self-talk takes you down when you hop on one of these imaginary excursions.

Now you are in full pain.

Your heart aches, your head throbs, you hands are shaking, your breathing is fast, maybe you sweat or you feel cold. You possibly want to stop lovingly preparing your stall and just head into the kitchen for a snack, or go for a walk, or you get a sudden need to wash up or tidy up, or you remembered that your friend needs you, or you wish you could curl up in a ball and howl… or just do whatever else other than prepare for this Christmas sales.

Does this look or sound familiar?

What’s your need to go down this trip? This is another discussion for an other time.

Now, I’d like to give you a simple tool to changes all this in a second! You see, I believe that you have everything that you need right now  in this moment in time, to have a very different experience as you prepare for your first Christmas sale of the season.

It’s as easy as if you’d press a switch. It is totally in your power to press that switch.

Now imagine this scenario:

Christmas is just around the corner. Gone is Halloween, gone is All Saints Day, gone are all the leaves, this is the straight line towards Christmas now. And Christmas markets.

You are getting ready for your first Christmas sale. As you gather your beautiful art work, you try out the best ways to display it. In your mind’s eye you see yourself in the market, standing there by your display… people come and go… some stop to look, some just walk by. Some will stop and you have a lovely connected chat with them. In your studio your hands are at work packing each item carefully but your mind is in the market. You are time travelling. You are in the future, standing in the market, next to your loved art work, looking around as people come and go.

Will it be a good one?

Do they like my art?

And on you go, without even realising, you are now on a mental trip about the beauty/value/quality of your art work.

Oh my, have I got enough with me to sell? It sure looks good, wow, look at my work go! Like hot cakes!

Woweee, they love it! They love my art!

And you go in deeper and deeper….

I just loved talking to that lady with her red hat, what a gorgeous being! I am so glad she bought that painting from me, it’s one of my favourites, I am so happy to know it’s now gone to a good home.

And you go in deeper…

Wow, look at me, I am making more money than I hoped!

Yes, yes, yes, I can do this, check me out, I am doing it!

And you go in deeper…

All those hours in the studio, pouring a bit of myself in my art, oh, how happy I am to know that not only can I create beautiful authentic art but I can sell it too, to people who love everything about it, it resonates with them too.

And you go in deeper still…

Oh, I love my work, it makes me so happy that it touches people, that it speaks to other people and they are prepared to pay for it generously.

Now you are in full joy.

Your heart is banging in your chest, your knees are shaking, you have a large smile on your face, you feel like you could fly. You glow!

From this place of absolute joy you keep on packing your art work ready for the market. You feel energised and excited, you can’t wait to get out there and connect with your ideal buyer. You know you will find the right words, you know this is an exciting opportunity for connection and joy. For both you and all the people who’ll stop by your stall and buy or maybe just have a great chat with you, give you some appreciative words for your art.

How similar and yet different these two scenarios are, right?

It is totally in your power to choose which ‘time travel’ excursion you want to have.

All it takes is to catch yourself doing it. And then press stop and switch to a new story, the story that gets you elated and joyful. It’s your mental journey, play with it, make it as exciting as you wish, as grand as you like. Savour it, take delight in it.

So next time, when you catch your mind starts wondering off come back to yourself and ask yourself, is this the kind of story I want to tell myself?

Remember, your thoughts create your future.

What kind of future do you wish to create?

Now of course, the reality of our lives and our minds are much more complex than my little scenario I described above. Still, I hope this post will help you start catching your self-talk, your stories and replacing them with a different kind of self-talk, with stories that help your heart and imagination soar.

Oh, you are afraid of disappointment? You worry that you’ll big yourself up and when things turn up differently it’ll hurt? I get it! Honestly, I do. But this is a story for an other time, let me know if you’d like to hear it.

(Crediting GoaShape on Unsplash for this gorgeous pic)