The family and I are in isolation this week at the lake, feeling super grateful that we have the opportunity to be here at this critical point. We are also really blown away by all the supportive chat groups, virtual DJ sets, Zoom parties, invitations to writing projects, and intense professional collaborations that are springing up. Since we have our hands pretty full with remote projects all of a sudden, and the internet here is actually faster than it is at home, I decided to do a quick video to pose a question: What are your creative successes and obstacles?
What are you doing now where you feel like you’re succeeding creatively and everything is working, and where do you feel like you’re either blocked, or there’s something in your way?
With your answers, I’m planning to steer future posts in useful directions where we can highlight and analyze what’s working, and find alternative ways to look at some common road blocks. I’ve been working together with artist & entrepreneurs on parallel tracks across the map to develop an educational program aimed at accessing deeper creativity in art, business, and life in general. More on that soon!
For now, if you’re interested in where this goes and want to bring it your way, drop a a quick comment below and let me know one thing you’re doing where you feel like the creativity is flowing, or tell me about your creative obstacles, even things as simple as “taking care of the kids” or “staying motivated.”
Lastly, I appreciate the suggestions people sent for the pandemic reading list, I’m looking forward to checking out House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski and Earth Abides by George R. Steward as soon as I can get my hands on them! Don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter at the top of the page if you’re into it, and check back next week. Stay safe everybody.
Great video. Beautiful background. Now more than ever we need to tap into our creativity and support one another! My boyfriend and I do a morning check-in while we drink coffee and talk about what we want to get done during the day. Everything from chores around the house to projects we want to work on. This helps keep some structure within our small urban apartment so we don’t fall into too much tv time. I’ve noticed in the last week or so that by doing this I feel more grounded and able to sit down and work on creative… Read more »
That’s awesome Elisha, I appreciate you taking the time to share! I’m with you on the productive trap comment, I think there’s a lot of good that can come from unstructured / naturally unfolding time, and the results of that kind of action are often more rewarding than checking off a list. I want to talk about this more in the coming weeks, while we are all having the chance to really examine how we spend our time. Your morning check-in sounds like a really good way to put your intentions out there in a way that enables you to… Read more »
Successes: Had to conduct virtual interviews this past week for an ongoing research project, which thankfully hasn’t shut down just yet, and while I had a covid19 standard operation procedure to share with viewers about how we are centering lowering risks etc…I hadn’t anticipated the facilitator to throw at me this curveball: “In the case that scholars are unable to travel [to state] and be with you on site this summer, what aspects of the project -if any- could they explore virtually with your team?” I ended up on the fly coming up with very realistic opportunities and ways to… Read more »
I’m so pumped on all the information you just downloaded in that comment. Wow! First off, I’m fascinated to hear how your on-the-fly virtual interactions go, if you end up using them. As we are witnessing in every area right now, this type of flexibility is becoming literally a matter of survival, and I hope you’ll keep me posted of how it plays out, and maybe even share a few of your specific ideas so we can discuss them here, or in relation to future posts. Virtual collaboration and education is baked into the foundations of the plan for this… Read more »
Creativity is flowing in my cooking, dreaming literally while asleep, ability to communicate in a healthy way with my husband & generally in my outlook on life as the world undergoes a shamanic death and rebirth cycle, building new friendships with folks I would have been intimidated by before, improved empathetic response, self love and radiating love out to others, enjoying life on a simple basic level Obstacles: staying grounded, feeling like I am “enough,” healing from past trauma that holds me back from developing professionally in the sector of natural healing, a tendency to isolate too much before it… Read more »
I love the way you view creativity as a holistic thing and not only mention physical stuff like cooking, but also draw in the more introspective & visionary elements of dreaming, shamanic traditions, EMPATHY, etc. Methods for developing better views of our cavernous inner spaces and creating authentic communication are something that seem to me like they can help people back in the material world as well. A book I recommended in last week’s post, “The Art of Solitude” by Stephen Batchelor, had a few elements of this but more is welcome. I hope you’ll share some of your techniques… Read more »
Thanks for this blog and your attention to the crucial state of being that is creativity; our most accessible state and worth getting to know as a part of daily living. I feel like I succeed creatively when I let that reservoir spill into other parts of my life that aren’t as free flowing as my so called “career” as an artist. I’ve succeeded when There’s artfulness in my consideration of others. When I spend as much time giving my attention to a friend or stranger as I would my own creations. I learn so much when I remember how… Read more »
Luke, even your blog comments are poetic man. Thanks for your attention on this creation. It’s great having you along as I dig into this thing, and I hope when the time comes to get into artist profiles and interviews you’ll be down to stand in front of the camera a little and share more of your thoughts on your view of “artful living”!
Creative successes: I’ve always felt that the creative success I could encounter usually came with a need to work with my inner self, and my sometimes extreme emotions. Many times, be it in writing or drawing, I got mostly inspired by the energy I NEEDED to let out, for my sanity, kind of like a purge. Art is a therapy that more than once helped me vent, release whatever was inside me. I don’t know about the end result as a success, aesthetically, for others. But it was a success for me, as it was my way to win, somehow,… Read more »