Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Get Big Magic

Part of pulling myself out of the stupid-fog I've been walking around in lately was coming across a good book. As I posted before, I have been reading a lot lately, but this has been by far the most helpful thing I've found. Written by Elizabeth Gilbert, "Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear" seems to have been written just for me in just this moment. Elizabeth, if you somehow ever see this post, thank you. I needed to read what you had to say. 
Creativity is a joyful and wonderful expression of our inner selves until it's not. All of us hit those low spots once in awhile. Even if you're not in one, there is so much in this book for you, too. This is thought food. Some of it funny, some of it provoking, this challenged and intrigued me out of my funk. Here are some quotes from Gilbert that I've been working over in my mind:

When we feel stumped and out of ideas- " Go walk the dog, go pick up every bit of trash on the street outside your home, go walk the dog again, go bake a peach cobbler, go paint some pebbles with brightly colored nail polish and put them in a pile. You might think it's procrastination, but- with the right intention- it isn't, it's motion. And any  motion whatsoever beats inertia, because inspiration will always be drawn to motion."

She talks about passion, about curiosity, failure, attaching a monetary value to the worth of our creativity and so many more issues humans tend to have as they develop the creativity within. 

Sometimes I get too serious about it all. Here's a reminder I needed, "Pure creativity is magnificent expressly because it is the opposite of everything else in life that's essential or inescapable (food, shelter, medicine, rule of law, social order, community and familial responsibility, sickness, loss, death, taxes, etc.) Pure creativity is something better than a necessity; it's a gift. It's the frosting. Our creativity is a wild and unexpected bonus from the universe. It's as if all our Gods and angels gathered together and said, "It's tough down there as a human being, we know. Here have some delights."

Oh!  Well!  Okay then, I will!  With gladness and relief. If you need a good read this weekend, I'd suggest you try this one out. It's delightful. 

Thanks for stopping by! Alice

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