Mentors Who Impact Our Beliefs Pt.2

While our experiences with positive mentors are valuable, so too are the periods of growth that come after encounters with damaging authority figures. In the last episode of the show, we spoke about the mentors who have impacted our beliefs in a helpful way. Today we will be discussing some of the beliefs we have inherited that impacted us negatively and how we were able to recognize that and leave those beliefs by the wayside. We speak about Emily’s college teacher who criticized her work in a hurtful way and this leads to a conversation about the value of art in a society as well as the danger of allowing negative experiences to shape us more than positive ones. We also speak about a harmful period of Emily’s life in her 20s and how she healed from this and developed strong views about her self-worth as well as boundaries around the level of discomfort she is willing to experience. As many of our listeners know, Sarah’s reactions to difficulty often involve fighting back, and she talks about how this tendency shaped her encounters with mentors and teachers who she didn’t agree with. For a characteristically authentic conversation about the growth that comes after pain, tune in today.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Emily’s experiences of being criticized in an un-constructive way in a college design course.
• How Emily lost her love for visual art because of how critical her design teacher was.
• The human tendency to allow negative thoughts to impact our beliefs more than positive ones.
• The role of having an abundance mentality in making art.
• Sarah’s early feelings of judgment toward people who chose to study art.
• The role of art in the functioning of communities for giving people beauty and meaning.
• How important art is despite where it fits into the hierarchy of needs.
• Perspectives on the judgements we have that don’t feel like our own.
• The role of Sarah’s fight response in defending herself from bad teachers.
• Emily’s feelings that she didn’t have a strong sense of self as a child and the effects of this.
• Terrible experiences Emily had in her 20s as an RA for a bible school.
• The different ways our religious childhoods affected us.
• A deep distrust Emily developed for authority figures.
• The recovery Emily has made from this abusive period of her life.
• Beliefs Emily developed around self-worth, self-sacrifice, and baseline comforts.
• Where the negativity that Emily associates with discomfort comes from.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

The Artist's Way

Inner Archeology on Patreon

Inner Archeology Email

Sarah Turner on Instagram

Emily Pennystone on Instagram