Robert Fritz, author of Your Life as Art, says:
You have good days and bad days and everything in-between. This will always be true. It is best to know this, and to know how to create on all of those days. Creating is cumulative, and is first a skill and orientation to learn, then a habit to develop, and later, a way of life and a state of being. Placing your focus on your creations rather than yourself becomes commonplace and routine, and what you think about yourself is irrelevant to anything that matters to you in your life.
As creative types, we are all on the journey of becoming a creator. Are you able to put your distractions and doubts aside in order to get the work done? Has your creativity become a “way of life and a state of being”? As always, I’d love to hear from you.
From one of our wonderful email subscribers and perhaps something you can relate to:
“Hi Susan—I am not able to put aside my personal problems and anxieties and get back into my creative life. At least, not yet. The creative juices don’t flow when I have other things on my mind. I am slowly trying to write poetry at least every week and I hope that effort results into a daily regimen. Why did I use the word regimen? Maybe that is what I now categorize writing to be. Oh, I hope not. A clear head and heart are the cornerstones needed to be creative and I believe, in time, they will return to me.” – Mary
My response:
Hang in there, Mary. I believe a clear head and heart will return to you, too. But you are describing a very real scenario that people face. I wish you all the best, Susan
Another one. I love you guys:
” To be perfectly honest, I have no control over my creations, but rather they, control me. Songs and new poems or story lines interrupt both my sleep, and often what were meant to be nice quiet walks. The only time that I am able to completely shut them out is when I am meditating or practicing my Reiki. Otherwise, I have often felt like a kite blowing haplessly in the wind with my creativity just barely holding onto the string. It’s fun though in a bizarre sort of way. I never know which way the wind is going to blow. “
An extreme example of creativity (not) interrupting one’s daily life I just happened to be reading about yesterday:
Mozart’s wife, Constanze, recalled years after her first husband’s death that as she was giving birth to their first child, he was in the next room writing the string quartet K 421. She said her cries from labor pains were worked into the sudden rising crescendoes of bars 31-32. But he never came into the room to console her as he was too busy writing.
There are a lot of stories about Mozart that are spurious, but most scholars believe that one to be true. It actually does sound in character!
Bars 31-32 of the Andante, I should note, in case anyone wants to go looking for it! 🙂
Wow. I had never heard that story, John. Now, that’s focus!
I just recently rewatched “Amadeus” and I have an independent film called “Mozart’s Sister” in my Netflix queue, so Mozart is showing up for me again right now. Thanks for your comment!
I really didn’t like the Director’s Cut of Amadeus…overexplained things and had many redundant scenes. But I thought the original was well-done, though keep in mind it’s a gross gross gross simplification and fictionalization. I worry when I see reviews of real biographies of Mozart wherein it’s asked, “Why didn’t they mention the bitter and intense Mozart/Salieri rivalry and the fact that Salieri killed Mozart?” Well, they don’t mention it because it’s fiction. What’s ironic about that film is all the stars have disappeared into total obscurity with the exception of the one who was then unknown—Cynthia Nixon.