There's a common perception that creativity is always a natural flow. That when we catch the creative wave, all time disappears and our muse takes over. And for some people that's true. I once met a woman who said, "When I write, it's like reading a book. I have to keep writing and writing because I want to see how it's going to turn out."
I wish that were true for me. Oh sure, occasionally the words just fly out of my brain and I step back at the end of the ride and go, "Whoa! Dude!" But for the most part it takes discipline and focus and no small amount of teeth-gritting to make it all the way to the end of a page.
So I related to Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) as she explained her creative process in this TED Talk. She said, "I'm a mule. The way I have to work is I have to get up at the same time every day and sweat and labor and barrel through it really awkwardly."
She also talked about how she had adopted the ancient Greek and Roman view of creativity as divine spirit that visits us rather than something coming from within us. The Greeks called it a daemon. The Romans called it a genius. I think of it as a muse.
It occurred to me that when she shows up and does the mulish work, it creates the space for that daemon/genius/muse to show up and do its work. Without her mulishness, that creative spirit would be unemployed.
The more I think about it, the more sense it makes to just show up and do the mulish work so that that my muse can have a channel to flow through. The muse may not always be flowing, but if I don't create that channel, it never has a chance to show up. And if that happens, both I and the world lose out on something important.This idea doesn't apply just to writing, or even just to any of the creative arts. It applies any time you show up and reach for a dream, a vision that is outside the mundane realm of everyday expectations.
How about you? What mulish work do you need to do so that your muse can show up?
--
Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams
--
by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst
Comments