Rainer Maria Rilke

"In this there is no measuring with time, a year doesn't matter, and ten years are nothing. Being an artist means: not numbering and counting, but ripening like a tree, which doesn't force its sap, and stands confidently in the storms of spring, not afraid that afterward summer may not come. It does come."

Rainer Maria Rilke

Austrian Poet/Novelist

1875 - 1926

Commentary

Sometimes writers, actors, musicians and artists are impatient and want immediate success.  What most fail to understand is that it does not happen overnight.  It happens as it is meant to happen.  The work has to age and ripen with time.  So don't despair.  Keep creating and the work will find its way.  The work will blossom when it is ready.  Early success often destroys the creative impulse and leaves the creator without anything to say.

Are you letting your work age properly or are you rushing into publication?  Are you looking for instant success or are you willing to wait until the time is right?

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Ludwig van Beethoven

Portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler
(1820)

"I make many changes, and reject and try again, until I am satisfied."

—Ludwig van Beethoven

German Composer and Pianist

1770 -1827

Writers rewrite their material.  Artists draw and sketch before beginning the final painting.  Musicians rewrite their compositions.  Rarely is a creative work finished in the mind of the creator.  He is continuously revising and recreating.  Most writers and artists spend their lives exploring a few key themes.  They write the same novel over and over or paint the same painting again and again.  What are the themes that you are exploring in your creative work?  

For your listening pleasure as you think, here is Beethoven's Tempest Sonata performed by Wilhelm Kempff.

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Frank Glazer

"I feel like I'm 35.  I'm playing better than ever.  I feel I've worked all my life to get to this point.  Now is not the time to quit."

— Frank Glazer

American Musician

1915 - 

When does an artist stop learning?  According to Frank Glazer who in February turned 97: "Never."  He says he is still learning to play the piano.  Are you still learning?  Are you continuing to grow and develop?  What have you learned today?  Last week?  Last month?  What books have your read?  What seminars have you attended?  What conversations have you had with other artists?  You should never stop learning.  The older I become, the more I realize what I don't know.  I hope that like Frank Glazer I will still be writing, speaking and learning at 97.  Don't give up on yourself.

Here is a video clip of Glazer playing the piano and discussing his first public appearance.

  

(Glazer made this comments in 2010 at the age of 95 to Bill Glauber of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.)

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George Elliot

"It is never too late to be what you might have been."

—  George Eliot

English Novelist

1819 - 1880

We all have dreams and things we want to accomplish in our lives.  Unfortunately, most of us either give up too soon or misinterpret our dreams.  I thought being a writer meant being able to write full time.  It does not.  Many writers had other lives.  Writing is only a portion of living. I thought being a writer meant having a best seller on the charts.  It does not.  Some great writers and artists never made a penny from their creative work.  I believe that we all become what we are meant to be.  We just need to discover what we are meant to be.  Search deep within your soul to understand who you are and what you are meant to do.  For some of us being a mother or father is the most important thing we can do.  Creative works helps to keep us sane.  For others being a teacher is the most important thing they can do.  Painting is the work that keeps them in touch with who they are.  It is never to late to be what you can be.

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Bob Marley

"When the root is strong, the fruit is sweet."

— Bob Marley

Jamaican Musician

1945 - 1981

How well do you know your roots?  On what other artists is your art build on?  Who are the artists who have influenced you?  On whose shoulders are you standing?  An artist needs to understand the history of his art.  He needs to know his roots.

How strong are your roots?  How deep are your roots?  Without roots the tree dies.  Without roots the plant withers.  Without roots there is no fruit.  Don't ignore your roots.  Don't ignore the traditions from which you come.  Are you watering your roots?  Are you growing as an artist?  Are you in touch with your roots?  

Here is Cedella Marley talking about her father.

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Ralph Ellison

"It takes a deep commitment to change and an even deeper commitment to grow."

— Ralph Ellison

American Novelist

1914 - 1994

Change and growth require commitment.  People dream of changing their lives but usually they lack the deep commitment to do so.  Change takes hard work and follow through.  Nothing changes overnight.  Many in the American society expect instant change.  Not happy with your body weight, take a pill or have surgery.  Not happy with your body, have plastic surgery.  Change takes commitment and patience.  It is better to lose weight slowly than quickly.  Becoming a writer doesn't happen overnight.  It takes years.  Actors often are labeled an overnight success — a success which took ten or fifteen years.  Harrison Ford, the actor, spent 15 years in Hollywood before he got the break in Star Wars that made him famous.  Creative expression is a lifetime commitment.  Don't give up.

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Marian Wright Edelman

"Failure is just another way to learn how to do something right."

— Marian Wright Edelman

American Activist

1939 - 

Too often we believe failure is something bad.  We have been conditioned by our parents, our schools and society to believe that failure is a negative.  We need to change our perspective of what failure means.  A failure is an opportunity to try again — to start over, to have another chance.  A failure is not the end of the road unless we give up.  Failure is a great teacher.  We learn about ourselves and others.  Sometimes we learn more in failure than we do through success.  So the next time you receive a rejection slip, view it as an opportunity to learn and grow.  

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Gary Zukav

"Changing the world  begins with the very personal process of changing yourself.  The only place you can begin is where you are, and the only time you can begin is always now."

— Gary Zukav

American Writer/Speaker

1942 -

Painting and writing is about re-creating and re-structuring the world the way we would like it to be.  The creative process is about changing ourselves and in the process of changing ourselves we change the world.  How have you changed in the past year?  How have you grown and developed as a person and as a creative leader?  What choices have you made in the last year to change your life?  Do you understand yourself better today than you did a year ago?  What have you learned about yourself?  What are your plans for next year?  What do you want to be doing a year from now?

Here is Gary Zukav discussing change.

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Richard Wilbur

"All that we do

Is touched with ocean, yet we  remain

On the shore of what we know."







— Richard Wilbur

American Poet

1921 - 







There is a vast world of knowledge and wisdom that we know little or nothing about.  We choose to live our lives on the shore of what we have learned.  We judge everything in light of what we think we know and seldom venture out of our safe haven.  Try to see  the world from new angles.  Explore the unknown and come away a better person because of it.  Change who you are by increasing your knowledge and wisdom.

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Robert Persig

"Finally you understand that the real motorcycle you're working on is yourself."

— Robert Pirsig

American Author

1928 - 

In the final analysis, life is about growth and self-development.  We become who we are meant to be through our work.  In essence we are working on ourselves.  Everything else is a tool to help us become who we are meant to be.  Whether you paint, write or speak, you are involved in a process of self-development.  Are you learning the lessons that you are supposed to learn?  Or are you having to suffer through the same experiences over and over.  One of the best examples is the relationships that people develop.  How many women or men choose the same type of partner over and over again only to be hurt and rejected in the end?  Remember the person you are working on is yourself.  The only person you can change is yourself.  

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance took Pirsig four years to write and was rejected by 121 publishers before it found a home.  Because Pirsig had a day job writing computer manuals, he wrote the book between 2 am and 6 am.  More than 5 million copies of the book have been sold.

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Jackson Pollack

"Painting is self-discovery."

— Jackson Pollack

American Painter

1912 - 1956

I believe all arts are about self-discovery whether we are talking about painting or literature or theater.  In the process of creating we discover who we are and whom we may want to be.  Maybe we learn something about ourselves in how a character in a story behaves.  Or we see ourselves through the lens of a photographer or painter.  Or we play a character on stage who is are alter ego.

What have you learned about yourself today?  Last week?  Last month?  Last year?  Life is a journey of self-discovery and change.  Are you growing and developing as you age?

The Key(1946)

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Christina Baldwin

"The gate to any new period of growth or maturity in our lives requires a period of discomfort and disorientation.  Out of this experience we eventually create a more deeply integrated story."

— Christina Baldwin

American Author/Speaker

1946 -

Growth as a creative leader is often associated with pain and discomfort.  Anytime we try something new or learn a new technique, we must pass through a period of frustration and unhappiness before we become a master.  Everything has a price and we must pay that price.  The paradox is that when things come to easily we become bored.  We like a challenge and  new opportunities for growth and development.  And the more pain the stronger our personal story becomes.

What are you struggling with at this moment?  What barriers stand in your way?  What is frustrating you?  There is light at the end of this tunnel even if you can't see it.  And you will be a better artist, writer or actor when you come through it.  Give thanks for these moments of growth.

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