Another amazing TED talk from author Elizabeth Gilbert who wrote the very popular “Eat Pray Love”.
Aside from the fact that I love the book, one of my all time favorite phrases…diligent joy…if I was to have a tattoo I think that is what it would say. I love all that it represents, not that life is a bowl of sweets, but that to be happy you have to remember to be happy! Every day…diligently!
But that is not what her talk is about. It is about the creative muse that resides in us all and an historical look at how creativity shaped the creator.
My takeouts from this wonderful talk (that you MUST watch – see below for video)
- Elizabeth describes herself brilliantly “I am a writer, writing is my passion”. (Question, how many of us creative types describe ourselves so definitely like that? I know I am wracked with insecurity to define myself in a more conventional way, “I am a marketing graduate who does design too”…gotta re-think that!)
- Is it right that anybody should feel afraid of the work they were put on this earth to do? (in context of artists being afraid their next work will not be as good as their last)
- Why should there be a link between creativity and suffering?
- In ancient Rome & Greece they believed creativity came from the divine not the human. Greeks called it a ‘damon’, the Romans a ‘genius’.
- Then with the renaissance the human became the ‘genius’ and the burden of performance and judgment that came with that marked the beginning of the battle between creativity and mental health.
- At about 10 minutes in she talks about a discussion with Ruth Stone, an American poet who describes her muse…wow!
- We’ve all had creative ideas ‘pop’ into our heads haven’t we, that AHA moment? Maybe that is our brush with the divine genius?
- Elizabeth’s advice is to take the genius out of you and put it back into the universe where it belongs.
- What if the most creative parts of your being are on loan to you? They do not define you and you can enjoy them.
Ole to you Elizabeth, and ole to you dear reader!
Gotta go, my genius is calling me…