Developing The Creative Mindset
The creative mind is a moving, expanding, contracting thing. And to develop a creative mindset we need to allow this free movement.
It needs total peace and quiet with no distractions to make itself known, yet it needs fuel to grow.
So we move in and out of this space. Create in the quiet, get inspired in the noise.
The quiet is vital to me, even though it can be difficult to find at times working from home.
Needing that peace and quiet can be difficult for our loving others to understand, and there can sometimes be tension. You’re a bit of a primadonna – your work is far too precious.
In order to make something really unique, we’ve got to get outside the machine of the world.
Most people never get outside the machine, they spend their lives in it. They never really get to see what it’s like on the outside because they believe it’s dangerous out there.
You’ll be left alone, cast aside, of no value to the machine. Stay in here where it's safe, it says.
But it's not safe in there at all. Staying on the inside kills creativity eventually. Death by a thousand pin pricks you might say.
We know that there’s something better.
What Happens When We’re Complete?
The silence is necessary if we are to create something we can be proud of, I think we're agreed on that.
But when we are done, when we need to take a piss or get a coffee or lunch, or when the kids come home, or when a knock comes to the door, what happens then?
Or maybe we’ve finished a project and now it’s time to flog it, how do we handle that scenario?
Many creative people struggle to blend and deal with this fuck-up of a society. Myself included.
But if we are to make a living, to even achieve more than just a living we’ve got to make peace with how things are here.
Otherwise, we pull ourselves apart.
Thus society exists in our reality and to condemn it we condemn ourselves. The truth of the matter is that at some unconscious level of our being we chose to be here.
It’s what’s giving birth to our creations.
[Tweet “The Creative Mindset: Moving In And Out Of The Machine #Creativity”]
To Be Successful
Success is not a universal thing, I'm sure you'll agree. And to find your success, you will not be limited to 2 or 3 or 20 hacks some douche online presents you with.
However, I have ideas and I'd like to share them with you. If you find them valuable then that's just great.
First;
Well, first of all, we’ve got to define success for ourselves.
If you’ve not already done that then you should. Write it down.
Don’t be afraid to do this. Inside you do have ambition, and part of the creative process is to acknowledge this. To deny it is to deny yourself.
Accept that you want this, that or the other. Write it down and wallow in it. Accept it and really feel it. Let the ambition you have free.
Holding on to it, denying it, kills your creativity. This might take some practice but you’ve got to do it.
Second;
Accept that the world is how it is, and how it provides you and me and everyone else with inspiration for something better.
The world and everything in it didn’t come into being to be perfect all in one hit. For if that was to be the case there would be little or no point in existing.
To exist is to grow and develop and become more. So in this, accept that the world is perfect becoming.
Third;
To develop a healthy and productive creative mindset we need to move between the silence and the noise.
The inner world allows us express our creativity and outer world feeds our inspiration.
Use the outer world to fund and fuel your creativity and leave aside all these fucked up ideas of right and wrong that you hold.
Ideas like; money is bad, Sex is bad, Alcohol is bad, Business is bad, People are bad and so on.
Make in your space, then come back here and sell your shit.
Make some money to fuel your ideas and creativity.
Finally;
Enjoy it.
We only get one go as this to the best of my waking knowledge.
Although I do have some far-out ideas about that… which I won’t go into now.
As always, I’m talking to myself. If you get something from it, then great.
The Artist's Manifesto
The Artist's Manifesto is a short book about staying true to our art. It is a call to Artists and Creatives like you to create from the heart with passion and integrity, disregarding the need for applause and recognition. It's available from 13th May 2017. Grab your FREE copy here.
Larry,
You and I have already established the reality that we enjoy each others stuff. This comment from me is simply to reiterate that with this newest posting by you. Thank you, Larry G. Maguire. 🙂
The dynamics between living in the mundane world and living within one’s creative world is, I suspect, eons old. Sometimes one world dominates/consumes the maker/creator, sometimes the other. And, then there’s how to make a living in all this. It can make a sane person mad, truly.
I’m reminded of an ancient symbol, one that’s tattooed on my right, rear, upper shoulder blade – specifically drawn, customized and placed. Since I can’t post the image of it *here*, let me simply say it’s this .. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang.
Given the long history and definition of Yin-Yang is to understand the duality of Life. Two sides of the same coin, if you wish. Thing is, recognizing this apparent “conflict”, then, how’s one to live their creative life within this apparent tension/”struggle”?
For me, as with all who commit to create anything, once I was on my creative path recognizing, sustaining and nourishing my creativity had to be balanced with the mundane world – being wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, teacher, entrepreneur and…blahblahblah.
It can, at times, be profoundly challenging. Neverthemore, each of us who creates must find/create that balance. From my experiences, it’s more than worth it (and, there’s no “real life” value that can be put on it).
Once again, Larry, thank you. I’m, indeed, happy that we bumped into each other on Twitter not too long ago. Well met.
Enjoy this day you make/are given.
Cheers!
~ Jessan
Sure that’s the entire beauty of it isn’t it? The contrast of the two apparently opposed things and us in the middle, making it, watching it, experiencing it. Sometimes it’s tough to take but what comes out the other side is a more refined and magical version of ourselves. I think it’s worth it too 🙂 As always, thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts Jessan!
Regards for now, Larry
You’re most welcome, Larry. Always a pleasure to swing by and visit with you/your thoughts/writing and all – even at this apparent distance. (read: no distance at all)
…and, yes, quite so re: “…more refined and magical version of ourselves…” Sometimes startling, most times profoundly rewarding and humbling, infinitely fascinating.
Cheers!
#DanceOn…
~ Jessan