Greetings to You-
In my recent work I have been emphasizing the critical importance of Building and Participating in Communities of Powerful and Committed People.
This is one of the 5 Key Principles I have identified for being at the Leading Edge of Success. In short, there really are limits to how much we can do on our own! Successful people hang out with others that are creating new realities and possibilities not birthed before. Besides, it is so much more fun and energizing to co-create and share successes and miracles with others. My clients in community continue to affirm this and are soaring as a result.
This Summer, my husband and I had a chance to see "The Birth of Impressionism" exhibit at the de Young Museum in San Francisco where we live. I was struck powerfully by a quote there from painter Claude Monet. You see, when these brilliant artists were giving birth to their innermost creativity, the world around them (the power center of the art world in Paris at the time was called "The Salon") did not appreciate the way they were pushing the limits of what had been done before and challenging the established norms and beliefs of the status quo. (Does any of this sound familiar?)
Their solution, to band together and challenge and stimulate each other to go beyond what anyone had done before. In other words, they formed their own community (Ecole or school), isolated by choice from the mainstream, where they could freely create and develop their own brilliance.
The Ecole des Batignolles
The young titans who challenged the Salon's control of artistic production congregated in Paris's Batignolles neighborhood, just north of the Gare Saint-Lazare. In 1900 Claude Monet reminisced about the camaraderie he shared with Bazille, Sisley, Renoir, and Manet's extended circle:
"In 1869 . . . Manet invited me to join him every evening in a café (Café Guerbois) in the Batignolles quarter, where he and his friends would gather and talk after leaving their ateliers. There I met Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, and Dégas, . . . the art critic Duranty, Emile Zola, who was then embarking on his literary career, as well as some others. I myself brought along Sisley, Bazille, and Renoir. Nothing was more interesting than our discussions, with their perpetual clash of opinion. They sharpened one's wits, encouraged frank and impartial inquiry, and provided enthusiasm that kept us going for weeks and weeks until our ideas took final shape. One always came away feeling more involved, more determined, and thinking more clearly and distinctly."
While sharing pictorial ambitions and often studio space, this loose confederacy of young painters encouraged each others' stylistic experimentations – a camaraderie appreciated in the face of Salon opposition.
(From the curator notes for the "Birth of Impressionism" exhibit at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, 2010)
Today, these artists are household names and acknowledged masters. Yet they began and developed their work as relative unknowns, upstarts who refused to accept the common wisdom and assumptions of their time.
I left the exhibit inspired, not only by the beauty and majesty of the work, but also from the recognition and affirmation of what it takes for each of us to create, to unleash our own unique magnificence so that it may be expressed in the world. And I also realized how crucial it is that we believe in ourselves and each other, when we recognize the truth for us. We dare not let ourselves be stopped by external views, criticism, nor by our own fears and doubts.
Thank you for the chance to share this with you. If you too find inspiration in this I invite you to join me in creating this community of powerful and brilliant people, sharing your gifts and creating your dreams.
To your Inspired Future!
Warmest regards, Rita
