1/30/2014 1 Comment On Dealing with Creative U-TurnsYou might be wondering where I've been...if indeed you noticed I haven't been blogging of late. I guess you could say I have been lost in a vortex of paradoxical thinking. Probably easier to describe it as a creative block. I've allowed other priorities swirl around me much like a tempest in the proverbial teapot. It is all very distracting and very comforting at the same time. I say distracting, because it keeps me from doing what I think I really want to be doing. I say comforting because it justifies not doing those things I say I love. It is so easy to just blame others for my inability to do what I want to do. Heaven forbid I should just say no to some things, drop some other things and focus on my alleged priorities. I say alleged because if they truly were my priorities, wouldn't I be doing them? And so the vortex swirls. Maybe this is not clear to you, but I do know what I mean. I really do. And at the risk of being called a whiner, I really am torn. I want to be a good guy. I want to do good in the world. So how do I convince myself that what I want to do, brings about good? Is it really a conundrum, or could it be more likely an excuse? I say the latter is probably true. So there you have it. I have always wanted to follow my muse, to be a "creative". I have some talent in writing, in creating photo images and creating a warm and welcoming environment. I enjoy doing these things. When I do them, it feels like play. And perhaps there is the rub. Play is not part of the Puritan Ethic with which I was raised. But by now, I should be over that. Should being the operative and very judgemental word. And I have come close many times. And in those periods, I have felt very much alive. Then I take what Julia Cameron (Artist's Way) calls a creative u-turn. A creative u-turn is what one does when he or she is experiencing his or her creative nature. It scares them. A creative u-turn is when you back away or avoid the next step in your creative journey. Fear they say is the reason. I suppose it is. What have I to be afraid of? Lord knows. I just need to grab the wheel again and steer myself in the right direction. And so I will Starting in February I will start blogging again. (Actually this may count as the start date). I will do my Morning Pages -- the daily practice of writing three pages upon rising as a sort of mind dump, taming the monkey mind, etc. I will take an Artist's Date --- a date with myself to do something personally inspiringly fun and insightful...a trip to a museum, a movie, a walk in the park. Once a week. These are done alone. They are a date with my artist self. I am going to be accountable to myself. And to you if you so inclined to hold me such. I will try not be be testy. LOL. I just want get it together...again...and find out what I was meant to do. As so the journey re-starts again.
1 Comment
BETTE
1/30/2014 11:21:43 am
YOU SURE ARE HARD ON YRSELF AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE
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Rob McMurray,
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