Part of this life journey as an artist is to keep going...
Rick Rubin has always said being an artist is very clear. Either you're an artist or you're not, there's really no in between. And a life long journey as an artist, you must be willing to seek. Ultimately I'm describing the word curiosity. You have to give room to yourself to be curious and act on that curiosity, and that's when you're practicing on being an artist. The reason why I bring this up is because it connects to mindfulness. Practicing mindfulness sometimes forces you to be curious when you don't even want to, I tend to notice that I start being aware of the things that I never was once drawn to. Part of being curious is also giving yourself the space to understand that we really don't know much in this world and what can happen in our life. It humbles us and helps to drive our curiosity. The mystery and the unknown is exactly where we as an artist operate. We often get anxious and uneasy with not knowing how well our creation will be perceived, but if you feel it internally that the work is good enough to share with the world, you have already succeeded. To quote Rick Rubin again, our creation is like a diary entry. "The beauty of a diary entry is that you can’t tell me my diary entry is not good enough or that it’s not what I experienced. I am writing the diary for myself." And to me, that's why creation is beautiful.
I hope that this helps on your journey to being an artist. The more consistent you can be with your mindfulness practice, the more consistent you are with being an artist.
BK