the passion project (sample video!)

in yesterday morning’s blog post, i mentioned that I have an art wolfie. he comes out when i want to create something new, telling me that i’m not good enough.

So in preparing a new workshop about pursuing Sober Passions, i’ve been asking Mr. Belle if he’d let me record him. You see, my darling husband has a different art noise in his head than I do, and I wanted to see if i could get him to share his ideas of what he does when confronted with negative thoughts.

We recorded the first video slideshow this morning (17 minutes long!).  With some encouragement, i may be able to get him to do more. But i’ll probably need some help because he’s super shy, and was nervous about his lack of english… All going well, i’ll get him to do some more audios/videos and i’ll put them into the Sober Passion workshop 🙂 hooray.

For now, i wanted to share with you a tiny extract from our first video (you only see one photo in this short clip, but there are others!).

>>>> Click here to WATCH a 1.5 minute extract of our video conversation

 

Belle

I want to put this online, to hold myself accountable. I want to document the noise in my head. I'm tired of thinking about drinking. date of last drink: june 30, 2012

  • Oh wow! I love his attitude to the negative voice….and strangely enough I can understand the language too ( I wonder if Canadian French is clearer than “French” French ! )
    So I’m wondering what happened with this “passion” project…..guess I’ll have to read on ….:) 🤗

  • Wolfie fills my brain and until I found you on the internet I never had a name for it. Giving the voice in my head a name and a face makes it easier (not easy but a huge help) to deal with it. I have a name and a face I can talk back to and ….yell at. I can say no to it and I can tell it I am stronger that it is. Still taking baby steps but after one trip up I got right back up to fight the Wolf. Thank you Belle & Mr. Belle – not sure what my passion is yet but since I doubted myself almost every waking moment I will be open to finding out what it is!

    • i think most of the passion work really happens after 100 days sober. in the beginning, the goal is to be sober and frankly being sober requires a bunch of focused effort : ) sober first, everything else second… including passions and dealing with art wolfie…

    • i also did the artist’s way a couple of times, including all of the activities (reading deprivation week, sent a letter to myself). it was super helpful.

  • This is EXACTLY what I’ve been waiting for! I didn’t realize the Wolfie was the cause of my NOT EVER painting. I know it’s inside of me. I can feel it and smell it and taste it. I get butterflies thinking about IT. But Wolfie is in my face before I can even take a step towards all the supplies I’ve bought and stored behind winter/summer clothes in the back of my closet. I’m IN on this if there is a real Passion Project!!!!! Really? Can I start imagining myself PAINTING now??? Oh Belle and Mr. Belle, you are my heroes! (And WOW could I listen to Mr. B talk all day long everyday!)

  • This is genius! I have the exact same Wolfie for the EXACT hobby of painting. I’ll even complete paintings and turn them around and put in garage as they aren’t good enough – and everyone else on the street is better. To hear even this excerpt from an artist and the thought pattern they experience is awesome!! Can’t wait to hear/see more, have fun Belle! lucky lady!

  • I encourage you do proceed with more of these conversations. Different perspectives are always so interesting to me and they can help one to see things in a different light. Mr. Belle, thanks for starting………hope to hear more.

  • Art wolfie , school wolfie, any creative endeavor wolfie is shame based. At some point in our lives we were told that we weren’t good enough and it sticks with us; part of the reason we medicated. Of course there’s inertia too. We are all good enough. We all have some kind of creative need, it’s human. Time to get back to that bed I’m building!

  • I love this! The composition of the colors and materials of the teapot, mug, lemon,the voices. Well done…..so far!

  • ‘The first thing that is hard is… STARTING. ‘
    Mr Belle is very wise indeed. This could apply to so many things. Sobriety, a run, doing a crappy bit of work you’ve been putting off, your tax return, calling somebody to have a Hard Conversation….. but once you start, you get into the groove, and you never regret having started.
    It’s the starting bit. That’s the bump you have to get over.
    I like his voice. It’s very soothing.
    I vote – more! More from people who don’t have a wolfie narrator in their cranium. Because it makes me see things differently. And helps me shut wolfie up.