The Nashville Goal-Attainment Meetup continues on Tuesdays at 6 pm. Please sign up for this empowering group at http://self-improvement.meetup.com/279/. I'll be guiding people through a supportive process of getting to the goals they've already chosen. This is the Getting It Done! chance for success! Creative and everyday goals are welcome. It's an open group: come when you can! We meet May 27, then skip a week for Chuck Whiting/SGA’s Tunesmithing at Border’s on West End---come join us!. We meet again June 10 if you miss tomorrow’s goals meeting.
Time Management for Creative People will be presented at the Songwriter’s Guild of America in June. June is soon, people! Please go to http://www.songwritersguild.com/ to sign up. I’ll be presenting the seminar over two evenings: Thursdays, June 19th and 26th. First step in Time Management: put it on your calendars now! We’ll be talking about organizing, scheduling, and a lot more than that! As usual in my workshops, I’ll be addressing the special issues creative folks face in accomplishing left-brain activities such as managing time. We’ll be doing some fun right-brain activities, too. Conquering time management (yes, wear your chain-mail outfits!) leaves you more time to succeed with your creative endeavors! So, what are you waiting for? Seating is (really and truly) limited, so reserve now. Kimberly’s waiting to hear from you!
Website News The to-do list to get www.UPositive.com up and running is now less than a page long, double-spaced! The two May videos are up on YouTube, and will stay up for the month of June. Check them out and enter the creativity challenge! I’m still looking for help in creating a virtual party for the day when www.UPositive.com is up and running!
My first eBook, Goal Attainment for Creative People, is being edited by my wonderful friend Elysabeth Eldering and will be available through the www.UPositive.com Website once that’s up, so please look for it there! Next goal is to create some fun products related to creativity, goal attainment, and just plain silliness; they’ll be available from CafePress.com in a week or two, and there will be a link from the Website.
Freedom
It’s Memorial Day. Day of memories. Day of being thankful to those who have given their lives for our freedoms.
I keep reminding myself that freedom isn’t about how far I can afford to drive in my car this week, given the rising gas prices: it’s about the right to go where I want when I want to, even if I have to walk! Freedom isn’t about which candidate I’m going to vote for: it’s about being able to go to the polls unaccosted in order to vote.
Like many Americans, I love my country: at the same time, I appreciate having the freedom to criticize it, admonish it for not living up to its own high ideals, and speaking out against the injustices I see it perpetrating. This doesn’t make me less American---it makes me more American. Participating in the government isn’t just a right, I believe it’s a responsibility.
My challenge to anyone reading this blog is to write / sculpt / dance / sing / build / whittle / knit your creative expression of freedom.
If you’d like to post it here to share with others---please do!
And thank you to all those who have given their lives so that we are free to continue in the expression and experience of our freedoms in America.
--Batya
Monday, May 26, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Preparation, or the Fixin' To of Goal Attainment
News and not-so-new news
The Nashville Goal-Attainment Meetup continues on Tuesdays at 6 pm. Please sign up for this empowering group at http://self-improvement.meetup.com/279/. I'll be guiding people through a supportive process of getting to the goals they've already chosen. This is the Getting It Done! chance for success! Creative and everyday goals are welcome. It's an open group: come when you can!
Time Management for Creative People will be presented at the Songwriter’s Guild of America in June. June is soon, people! Please go to www.songwritersguild.com to sign up. I’ll be presenting the seminar over two evenings: Thursdays, June 19th and 26th. First step in Time Management: put it on your calendars now! We’ll be talking about organizing, scheduling, and a lot more than that! As usual in my workshops, I’ll be addressing the special issues creative folks face in accomplishing left-brain activities such as managing time. We’ll be doing some fun right-brain activities, too. Conquering time management (yes, wear your chain-mail outfits!) leaves you more time to succeed with your creative endeavors! So, what are you waiting for? Seating is (really and truly) limited, so reserve now. Kimberly’s waiting to hear from you!
Website News The to-do list to get www.UPositive.com up and running is now less than a page long, double-spaced! The two May videos are up on YouTube, though they need a little tweaking, which should be done by tomorrow (Tuesday). Check them out and enter the creativity challenge! I think they'll be there for June, too; I'll aim to start new ones on a monthly basis in July. Does anyone know how to create a virtual party for the day when www.UPositive.com is up and running?
My first eBook, Goal Attainment for Creative People, should be ready in about a week. It'll be available on the Website, so please look for it there! I'm also trying to create some fun products related to creativity, goal attainment, and just plain silliness. Does anyone out there know how to maneuver in CafePress.com?
Preparation, or the Fixin' To of Goal Attainment
Since moving to the mid-South a little more than a decade ago, it took a while to figure out what "fixin' to" meant. Didn't you just decide to do something, wake up in the morning, and do it? What's this "fixin' to" thing?
I figured it out when I painted my house. Waking up one morning, I was determined to paint the living room. So I went and picked a paint color. Then I bought the right brushes and rollers. Since I planned on faux paint, I needed to test out a number of bags/rags/cloths until I found the one that produced the right effect. Reading the labels of the various paints came next. Laying down painter's cloth...taping the edges of the walls...stopping for lunch...answering the phone...changing into clothes I could get rid of at the end of the project...covering my hair...by the time I was ready, it was too late in the evening to get started.
I'd been busy all day---I swear I was! Exhausted! But not a wall had been painted, not even touched by a brush or roller or rag. So what had I done?
That's where the "fixin' to" started making sense. I hadn't been painting, but I'd sure spent the whole day fixin' to paint!
What does this have to do with goal attainment?
Everything. It isn't enough to write a hasty list of goals and expect that you'll start in the morning and attain them. Being successful requires planning, takes time, needs effort, and demands attention to detail. It's worth the time and energy to wrestle your goals into shape, organize them into an outline or plan, divide them into steps that are small enough to accomplish one day at a time, and affirm them regularly.
Anything worth doing is worth doing well. Doing something well necessitates preparation.
Successful chefs have assistants whose only job is to prep the meal: cut the veggies, line up the ingredients, etc. How many rehearsals does it take before a performance is presented to the public? I'm on the fifth draft of my first novel...and I'm sure it needs a sixth and seventh.
Your future success is worth proper preparation. Take the time to luxuriate in the visualizations; write and rewrite your goals in positive wording; schedule the small steps that you can accomplish this week and next.
So get fixin'! You'll be ahead of the game and so much closer to attaining your dreams!
--Batya
The Nashville Goal-Attainment Meetup continues on Tuesdays at 6 pm. Please sign up for this empowering group at http://self-improvement.meetup.com/279/. I'll be guiding people through a supportive process of getting to the goals they've already chosen. This is the Getting It Done! chance for success! Creative and everyday goals are welcome. It's an open group: come when you can!
Time Management for Creative People will be presented at the Songwriter’s Guild of America in June. June is soon, people! Please go to www.songwritersguild.com to sign up. I’ll be presenting the seminar over two evenings: Thursdays, June 19th and 26th. First step in Time Management: put it on your calendars now! We’ll be talking about organizing, scheduling, and a lot more than that! As usual in my workshops, I’ll be addressing the special issues creative folks face in accomplishing left-brain activities such as managing time. We’ll be doing some fun right-brain activities, too. Conquering time management (yes, wear your chain-mail outfits!) leaves you more time to succeed with your creative endeavors! So, what are you waiting for? Seating is (really and truly) limited, so reserve now. Kimberly’s waiting to hear from you!
Website News The to-do list to get www.UPositive.com up and running is now less than a page long, double-spaced! The two May videos are up on YouTube, though they need a little tweaking, which should be done by tomorrow (Tuesday). Check them out and enter the creativity challenge! I think they'll be there for June, too; I'll aim to start new ones on a monthly basis in July. Does anyone know how to create a virtual party for the day when www.UPositive.com is up and running?
My first eBook, Goal Attainment for Creative People, should be ready in about a week. It'll be available on the Website, so please look for it there! I'm also trying to create some fun products related to creativity, goal attainment, and just plain silliness. Does anyone out there know how to maneuver in CafePress.com?
Preparation, or the Fixin' To of Goal Attainment
Since moving to the mid-South a little more than a decade ago, it took a while to figure out what "fixin' to" meant. Didn't you just decide to do something, wake up in the morning, and do it? What's this "fixin' to" thing?
I figured it out when I painted my house. Waking up one morning, I was determined to paint the living room. So I went and picked a paint color. Then I bought the right brushes and rollers. Since I planned on faux paint, I needed to test out a number of bags/rags/cloths until I found the one that produced the right effect. Reading the labels of the various paints came next. Laying down painter's cloth...taping the edges of the walls...stopping for lunch...answering the phone...changing into clothes I could get rid of at the end of the project...covering my hair...by the time I was ready, it was too late in the evening to get started.
I'd been busy all day---I swear I was! Exhausted! But not a wall had been painted, not even touched by a brush or roller or rag. So what had I done?
That's where the "fixin' to" started making sense. I hadn't been painting, but I'd sure spent the whole day fixin' to paint!
What does this have to do with goal attainment?
Everything. It isn't enough to write a hasty list of goals and expect that you'll start in the morning and attain them. Being successful requires planning, takes time, needs effort, and demands attention to detail. It's worth the time and energy to wrestle your goals into shape, organize them into an outline or plan, divide them into steps that are small enough to accomplish one day at a time, and affirm them regularly.
Anything worth doing is worth doing well. Doing something well necessitates preparation.
Successful chefs have assistants whose only job is to prep the meal: cut the veggies, line up the ingredients, etc. How many rehearsals does it take before a performance is presented to the public? I'm on the fifth draft of my first novel...and I'm sure it needs a sixth and seventh.
Your future success is worth proper preparation. Take the time to luxuriate in the visualizations; write and rewrite your goals in positive wording; schedule the small steps that you can accomplish this week and next.
So get fixin'! You'll be ahead of the game and so much closer to attaining your dreams!
--Batya
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Approaches to Life
Reminders
The Nashville Goal-Attainment Meetup begins Tuesday, May 13 a 6 pm. Please sign up for this empowering group at http://self-improvement.meetup.com/279/. I'll be guiding people through a supportive process of getting to the goals they've already chosen. This is the Getting It Done! chance for success! Creative and everyday goals are welcome. If you can’t make it on the 13th, we’ll be meeting every Tuesday---it’s an open group: come when you can!
Time Management for Creative People will be presented at the Songwriter’s Guild of America in June. June is soon, people! Please go to www.songwritersguild.com to sign up. I’ll be presenting the seminar over two evenings: Thursdays, June 19th and 26th. First step in Time Management: put it on your calendars now! We’ll be talking about organizing, scheduling, and a lot more than that! As usual in my workshops, I’ll be addressing the special issues creative folks face in accomplishing left-brain activities such as managing time. We’ll be doing some fun right-brain activities, too. Conquering time management (yes, wear your chain-mail outfits!) leaves you more time to succeed with your creative endeavors! So, what are you waiting for? Seating is (really and truly) limited, so reserve now. Kimberly’s waiting to hear from you!
Website News
www.UPositive.com is still in the works…closer…ever closer. My videos will be on YouTube also, and might even be there before the Web is up. My Web-designer/mistress Debbie Gordon (www.digiroo.com) is still waving her magic cyber-wand and promises…soon! Trust me, I’ll let everyone know when www.UPositive..com is up and running!
Styles of Tasting Life
One of UPositive Life Coaching’s clients voiced concerns about all her interests and often coming to a standstill because she can’t decide among her many choices. I’ve heard this so many times, especially from creative people. Barbara Sher, in her book Refuse to Choose writes extensively on the subject, and if you or someone you know often faces this ‘problem,’ I highly recommend reading the book.
I truly believe that people have different ways of being in the world. I don't think one way is right or wrong.
Some have one narrow path: they are here to follow it, know what it is, and do it. My nephew is like that. Brilliant, wonderful kid. He knew as a junior (maybe earlier) in high school that he wanted to be a lawyer...he joined the debate team, did all sorts of things related, took relevant courses in college, will be entering his final year in law school in the fall. It's his single passion. Unfortunately, he considers himself too single-minded, and is now looking at developing interests outside law and school---and it's very hard for him to do that. He's like a friend of mine with one or two restaurants the prefer to dine at, where they always order the same, favorite dish. They're happy doing that.
Other people have a multitude of interests. They’re here to sample as many restaurants as possible. They enjoy going to a buffet of life. A taste of this, a bite of that. What happens for them---because of the culture and time we live in, I think---is they appear to be undecided. There's a myth that we're supposed to choose something and do that, and stick to it. But if everyone followed just one path, we wouldn't need maps or AAA or Mapquest. There's an excitement for those who are made this way in experiencing a whole lot of what life has to offer. Loving the smell of fresh-baked rye bread; then kneading up some Challah just to smell the difference when it's baking. Filling one vase with only roses, the other with one of each flower in the garden.
Why force yourself into a style of life that isn’t natural for you? Why not congratulate yourself for your multiple interests? Or for your single passion?
I’m always fascinated by the diversity of how human beings approach life. That’s a large part of what drew me to my first Master’s degree in cultural anthropology, and to my second in psychotherapy. We’re such an adaptable species! A Native Philipino up at Akwesasne (Mohawk reservation, upstate New York) once said: “We take the similarities [among people] for granted; it’s the differences that we celebrate.”
What’s your style in approaching life? I’ve only mentioned two here…there are bound to be others.
--Batya
The Nashville Goal-Attainment Meetup begins Tuesday, May 13 a 6 pm. Please sign up for this empowering group at http://self-improvement.meetup.com/279/. I'll be guiding people through a supportive process of getting to the goals they've already chosen. This is the Getting It Done! chance for success! Creative and everyday goals are welcome. If you can’t make it on the 13th, we’ll be meeting every Tuesday---it’s an open group: come when you can!
Time Management for Creative People will be presented at the Songwriter’s Guild of America in June. June is soon, people! Please go to www.songwritersguild.com to sign up. I’ll be presenting the seminar over two evenings: Thursdays, June 19th and 26th. First step in Time Management: put it on your calendars now! We’ll be talking about organizing, scheduling, and a lot more than that! As usual in my workshops, I’ll be addressing the special issues creative folks face in accomplishing left-brain activities such as managing time. We’ll be doing some fun right-brain activities, too. Conquering time management (yes, wear your chain-mail outfits!) leaves you more time to succeed with your creative endeavors! So, what are you waiting for? Seating is (really and truly) limited, so reserve now. Kimberly’s waiting to hear from you!
Website News
www.UPositive.com is still in the works…closer…ever closer. My videos will be on YouTube also, and might even be there before the Web is up. My Web-designer/mistress Debbie Gordon (www.digiroo.com) is still waving her magic cyber-wand and promises…soon! Trust me, I’ll let everyone know when www.UPositive..com is up and running!
Styles of Tasting Life
One of UPositive Life Coaching’s clients voiced concerns about all her interests and often coming to a standstill because she can’t decide among her many choices. I’ve heard this so many times, especially from creative people. Barbara Sher, in her book Refuse to Choose writes extensively on the subject, and if you or someone you know often faces this ‘problem,’ I highly recommend reading the book.
I truly believe that people have different ways of being in the world. I don't think one way is right or wrong.
Some have one narrow path: they are here to follow it, know what it is, and do it. My nephew is like that. Brilliant, wonderful kid. He knew as a junior (maybe earlier) in high school that he wanted to be a lawyer...he joined the debate team, did all sorts of things related, took relevant courses in college, will be entering his final year in law school in the fall. It's his single passion. Unfortunately, he considers himself too single-minded, and is now looking at developing interests outside law and school---and it's very hard for him to do that. He's like a friend of mine with one or two restaurants the prefer to dine at, where they always order the same, favorite dish. They're happy doing that.
Other people have a multitude of interests. They’re here to sample as many restaurants as possible. They enjoy going to a buffet of life. A taste of this, a bite of that. What happens for them---because of the culture and time we live in, I think---is they appear to be undecided. There's a myth that we're supposed to choose something and do that, and stick to it. But if everyone followed just one path, we wouldn't need maps or AAA or Mapquest. There's an excitement for those who are made this way in experiencing a whole lot of what life has to offer. Loving the smell of fresh-baked rye bread; then kneading up some Challah just to smell the difference when it's baking. Filling one vase with only roses, the other with one of each flower in the garden.
Why force yourself into a style of life that isn’t natural for you? Why not congratulate yourself for your multiple interests? Or for your single passion?
I’m always fascinated by the diversity of how human beings approach life. That’s a large part of what drew me to my first Master’s degree in cultural anthropology, and to my second in psychotherapy. We’re such an adaptable species! A Native Philipino up at Akwesasne (Mohawk reservation, upstate New York) once said: “We take the similarities [among people] for granted; it’s the differences that we celebrate.”
What’s your style in approaching life? I’ve only mentioned two here…there are bound to be others.
--Batya
Monday, May 5, 2008
Creativity & Madness
Reminder:
The Nashville Goal-Attainment Meetup begins Tuesday, May 13 at 6 pm. Please sign up for this empowering group at http://self-improvement.meetup.com/279/. I'll be guiding people through a supportive process of getting to the goals they've already chosen. This is the Getting It Done! chance for success! Creative and everyday goals are welcome.
Time Management for Creative People will be presented at the Songwriter’s Guild of America in June. June is soon, people! Please go to www.songwritersguild.com to sign up. I’ll be presenting the seminar over two evenings: Thursdays, June 19th and 26th. First step in Time Management: put it on your calendars now! We’ll be talking about organizing, scheduling, and a lot more than that! As usual in my workshops, I’ll be addressing the special issues creative folks face in accomplishing left-brain activities such as managing time. We’ll be doing some fun right-brain activities, too. Conquering time management (yes, wear your chain-mail outfits!) leaves you more time to succeed with your creative endeavors! So, what are you waiting for? Seating is (really and truly) limited, so reserve now. Kimberly’s waiting to hear from you!
Website News
www.UPositive.com might be up within the week. Feel free to say a little cyber-prayer for me, if you feel so moved. I spent a lot of time yesterday with my brilliant Web-designer/mistress Debbie Gordon (www.digiroo.com) reviewing what’s left before going live. I have a lot of writing to do this week. Lance has a lot of video editing to do this week. And Debbie has a lot of magic tricks to do to wrest “UPositive” domain from Yahoo! Seems Yahoo has spent the last few years tricking people and kidnapping their domain names; if you’ve signed up for “private” registration on there, you may never get your name back. We’ll see---I’m in Nashville, after all, and “when in Nashville, do as the streets do…change your name midway between here and there.” I’m thinking of starting a class-action suit against Yahoo, so if any of you have had a similar problem, please let me know. In the meantime, I’m still using UPositive55@aol.com as an email addy.
Creativity and Madness
There’s an annual conference with this name, held in Santa Fe, New Mexico every summer. I’d love to go, but haven’t gotten there yet. It’s arranged by the American Institute of Medical Education, which may explain the list of topics, which often include studies of specific artists/writers/etc. who have cut off ears, stuck heads in gas ovens, raged naked through the streets…you get the idea. They also have a smattering of talks overlaying psychotherapeutic theories on the works of various earlier artists (so they can’t argue, I suppose), as well as one or two discussions about First-Peoples’ approaches to emotional healing (wherein creativity and spirituality were more likely to mix).
Do you detect a hint of cynicism here? (who me?)
I’ve long disdained the myth (my term) that creative people are more likely than the general population to be “mad,” or suffering from mental illness, or the converse: that the mentally ill are more likely than the general population to be creative. For the past 20+ years I’ve worked with creative people as well as in community mental health clinics, where I’ve seen the entire gamut of diagnoses and a very wide range of individuals (age, size, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, political leaning, etc.). While there were certainly some very creative folks that sat across the therapy room from me, I seriously doubt the percentage was higher than if I’d been sitting in a large restaurant, or Grand Central Station. I ran a writing group for a clinic that served the recently-detoxed substance abuse population of Brooklyn, NY. Some absolutely brilliant pieces came out the ink end of their pens, but so did some poorly written work.
Last week the New York Times printed an article about this topic. They came to a similar conclusion: that no, you don’t need a mental health diagnosis---or the symptoms---to be creative. And mental illness is not a prerequisite for creativity. A number of highly successful writers reported that they would have been even more productive without the ups and downs of bipolar disorder; or the periodic, devastating inability to accomplish anything resulting from severe depression; or the fear of creating something imperfect stemming from anxiety.
So what does it take in order to be creative that has fed the myth of creativity-and-madness?
In talking with my friend (and struggling writer) Rose Marie, I came upon the theory that creativity requires an intense connection to the experience of life. The courage, I’d say (see previous blog on this topic), to let your defenses down and allow yourself to really feel the world around you, the people around you, the emotions and reactions and beliefs and energies that are present. Sometimes these are heart-wrenchingly sad, sometimes quake-in-the-boots scary, sometimes gut-shakingly funny.
Rather than requiring “madness,” which in all its forms distorts how we experience life, creativity requires strength, opening to intense emotion and thought, reaching our center, the clarity of hope and possibility. Creativity is more "magic" than "madness": you put life in one end and out the other comes a poem, a dance, a painting, a statue. Or like alchemy: put in base metals and produce the gold.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, arguments, questions about this topic! Perhaps your experience proves me wrong? Perhaps you’ve struggled with one or the other side of creativity-and-madness in your life? Please share your thoughts---whatever they are. Thanks!
--Batya
The Nashville Goal-Attainment Meetup begins Tuesday, May 13 at 6 pm. Please sign up for this empowering group at http://self-improvement.meetup.com/279/. I'll be guiding people through a supportive process of getting to the goals they've already chosen. This is the Getting It Done! chance for success! Creative and everyday goals are welcome.
Time Management for Creative People will be presented at the Songwriter’s Guild of America in June. June is soon, people! Please go to www.songwritersguild.com to sign up. I’ll be presenting the seminar over two evenings: Thursdays, June 19th and 26th. First step in Time Management: put it on your calendars now! We’ll be talking about organizing, scheduling, and a lot more than that! As usual in my workshops, I’ll be addressing the special issues creative folks face in accomplishing left-brain activities such as managing time. We’ll be doing some fun right-brain activities, too. Conquering time management (yes, wear your chain-mail outfits!) leaves you more time to succeed with your creative endeavors! So, what are you waiting for? Seating is (really and truly) limited, so reserve now. Kimberly’s waiting to hear from you!
Website News
www.UPositive.com might be up within the week. Feel free to say a little cyber-prayer for me, if you feel so moved. I spent a lot of time yesterday with my brilliant Web-designer/mistress Debbie Gordon (www.digiroo.com) reviewing what’s left before going live. I have a lot of writing to do this week. Lance has a lot of video editing to do this week. And Debbie has a lot of magic tricks to do to wrest “UPositive” domain from Yahoo! Seems Yahoo has spent the last few years tricking people and kidnapping their domain names; if you’ve signed up for “private” registration on there, you may never get your name back. We’ll see---I’m in Nashville, after all, and “when in Nashville, do as the streets do…change your name midway between here and there.” I’m thinking of starting a class-action suit against Yahoo, so if any of you have had a similar problem, please let me know. In the meantime, I’m still using UPositive55@aol.com as an email addy.
Creativity and Madness
There’s an annual conference with this name, held in Santa Fe, New Mexico every summer. I’d love to go, but haven’t gotten there yet. It’s arranged by the American Institute of Medical Education, which may explain the list of topics, which often include studies of specific artists/writers/etc. who have cut off ears, stuck heads in gas ovens, raged naked through the streets…you get the idea. They also have a smattering of talks overlaying psychotherapeutic theories on the works of various earlier artists (so they can’t argue, I suppose), as well as one or two discussions about First-Peoples’ approaches to emotional healing (wherein creativity and spirituality were more likely to mix).
Do you detect a hint of cynicism here? (who me?)
I’ve long disdained the myth (my term) that creative people are more likely than the general population to be “mad,” or suffering from mental illness, or the converse: that the mentally ill are more likely than the general population to be creative. For the past 20+ years I’ve worked with creative people as well as in community mental health clinics, where I’ve seen the entire gamut of diagnoses and a very wide range of individuals (age, size, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, political leaning, etc.). While there were certainly some very creative folks that sat across the therapy room from me, I seriously doubt the percentage was higher than if I’d been sitting in a large restaurant, or Grand Central Station. I ran a writing group for a clinic that served the recently-detoxed substance abuse population of Brooklyn, NY. Some absolutely brilliant pieces came out the ink end of their pens, but so did some poorly written work.
Last week the New York Times printed an article about this topic. They came to a similar conclusion: that no, you don’t need a mental health diagnosis---or the symptoms---to be creative. And mental illness is not a prerequisite for creativity. A number of highly successful writers reported that they would have been even more productive without the ups and downs of bipolar disorder; or the periodic, devastating inability to accomplish anything resulting from severe depression; or the fear of creating something imperfect stemming from anxiety.
So what does it take in order to be creative that has fed the myth of creativity-and-madness?
In talking with my friend (and struggling writer) Rose Marie, I came upon the theory that creativity requires an intense connection to the experience of life. The courage, I’d say (see previous blog on this topic), to let your defenses down and allow yourself to really feel the world around you, the people around you, the emotions and reactions and beliefs and energies that are present. Sometimes these are heart-wrenchingly sad, sometimes quake-in-the-boots scary, sometimes gut-shakingly funny.
Rather than requiring “madness,” which in all its forms distorts how we experience life, creativity requires strength, opening to intense emotion and thought, reaching our center, the clarity of hope and possibility. Creativity is more "magic" than "madness": you put life in one end and out the other comes a poem, a dance, a painting, a statue. Or like alchemy: put in base metals and produce the gold.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, arguments, questions about this topic! Perhaps your experience proves me wrong? Perhaps you’ve struggled with one or the other side of creativity-and-madness in your life? Please share your thoughts---whatever they are. Thanks!
--Batya
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