HIRE YOURSELF AS A CONSULTANT:
A discussion about the belief that we are each our own best resource when it comes to creating and the psychological barriers we have to believing this and acting on it: not smart enough, not experienced enough, not worthy, etc. "A moment arrives...when they surrender to the idea that is appropriate to use themselves as their primary resource. From then on they become creative."
OPEN A VEIN:
A discussion of the importance of including our emotional life in our creative work, and in all areas of our life. NPR had an interesting piece on this today about Albert Einstein believing he needed to bring all of himself to his work to be successful - feelings, spirit and intellect.
GET RAVENOUS:
A comparative discussion about the excuses we make for not creating using Kafka's story, "The Hunger Artist." I really liked this analogy and reading - what are all the ways we distract ourselves - which do not stop the boredom, they merely anesthetize us.. "...aren't millions of us 'not eating' in our own ways, not creating, not living with gusto...[we] are deeply bored and apathetic; [our] instinct to enjoy life is not powerful enough to overcome the feelings of meaninglessness." Turn off the TV, stop surfing the web, stop shopping or eating and create!
UNDEPRESS:
Bravo, a new discussion. Maisel takes straight aim at the need for creative types to be neurotic or depressed in order to create and that our best creations come from this. I agree. Yes our best creations come from being fully connected emotionally and intellectually, but this does NOT mean we must be depressed individuals. "Our inner pain does not benefit us...psychological problems like severe depression, ...addictions are curses not blessings."
KILL MAYBE:
A discussion on our use of 'maybe' which keeps us in the staus quo. Moving forward comes with its own risks of failure and non-prefection, but hell we knew this already. One thing he says which I agree, "The maybes are the equivalent of lies." That is to say we say maybe, when we are really just procrastinating or afraid.
LOOK WHERE YOU SLIPPED:
Examine areas of struggle and failure for life lessons and use your creative medium to explore and/ or purge. Enough said.
BE YOURSELF ENTIRELY:
Jung had the idea that we are born whole and then lose pieces of ourselves in the cruicable of childhood...the main task of midlif is to weather the crisis that arises from the loss and become integrated and whole again...there is no better place to do this integrative work than where you create.
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