Bob Dylan

"I don't know where my songs come from.  It's like a ghost is writing a song.  It gives you the song and it goes away.  You don't know what it means."

Bob Dylan

American Musician

1941 - 

Often we don't know the source of our creativity and so pretend that it came from a muse.  Have you ever written something and had no idea where it came from?  Have you ever painted something and surprised yourself with your own originality?  You are no different than the greatest writers, painters or musicians.  Be happy that the muse visited you.  Celebrate the gift of creativity that you have been given.  

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Thomas Merton

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time."

— Thomas Merton

American Writer

1915 - 1968

Have you ever lost yourself in your art and woke up wondering how you created what you did?  I have sometimes written for several hours only to read what I wrote days later and be surprised by what I wrote.  Something happens where I seem to disappear into the writing process and am only partially conscious.  Yet through the process of writing I have also been able to heal myself and in the process find myself.  Creativity is a mysterious, mystical and spiritual process that brings us closer to who we are meant to be.  If you have experienced the creative process, then you have been blessed with a gift.  Give thanks for what you have been given.

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Tomas Transtromer

"Fantastic to feel how my poem is growing

while I myself am shrinking.

It's getting bigger, it's taking my place,

it's pressing against me.

It has shoved me out of the nest.

The poem is finished."

— Tomas Transtromer

Swedish Poet

1931 - 

Every writer and painter knows when the work takes control and pushes the artist out of the picture.  We are simply vessels through which creativity flows.  The muses are in charge and are dictating their visions.  Have you learned how to give up control and let the creative spirit flow through you?

Here is a poem by Tomas Transtromer, the 2011 Nobel Prize winner for Literature.

Track

2 A.M.: moonlight. The train has stopped

out in a field. Far off sparks of light from town,

flickering coldly on the horizon.

As when a man goes deep into his dream

he will never remember that he was there

when he returns again to his room.

Or when a person goes so deep into a sickness

that his days all become some flickering sparks, a swarm,

feeble and cold on the horizon.

The train is entirely motionless.

2 o'clock:  strong moonlight, few stars.

(by Tomas Transtromer

Translated by Robert Bly)

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Alexander Pope

"Narrow-minded people are similar to narrow-necked bottles.  The less they have in them the more noise they make pouring it out."

— Alexander Pope

English Poet

1688 - 1744

Unfortunately, we live in a time when narrow-minded people the world over have grabbed the microphones and are filling the air waves with their empty noise.  Narrow-minded people scare me.  They can not face the uncertainty of the times we live in so they seek refuge in absolutes and try to force others to follow them down a path that leads to destruction.

Creative leaders need to have open minds if they are to hear the voices of the wild exotic muses and if they are to dance passionately beneath the stars of the universe.  They have to be willing to consider the unbelievable, the impossible and the unrealistic.  

Are you open to the power of the universe?  Are you open to the people living in your backyard?  Have you broken through the glass ceiling?  Stay open!  Stay free!  Stay happy!

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William Holman Hunt

Self-portrait
(1867)

"Art is love."

— William Holman Hunt

English Painter

1827 - 1910

Do you love what you do?  If you can't answer yes to this question, then you need to find something else to do or learn to love what you do.  Failure to love what we do brings about despair and unhappiness.  Creative leaders love creativity and their chosen medium of expression.  Creative leaders have a deep, burning passion for their art, their writing or their dancing.

Life is too short to waste time doing something you don't enjoy.  Yes, we all have a need to make money and we may not make money from our chosen artistic endeavor, but we need to find a way to love the job that pays the bills.  We need to pay the bills so we can do what we love to do.  

Do you have an attitude of gratitude?  Do you say thank you every day for the gift of self-expression that you have been given?  Do you say thank you for being alive?  For breathing the air?  For family and friends?  For your health?  For the food on the table?  For the muse on your shoulder?  We have so much to be thankful for?

Isabella and the Pot of Basil
(1868)

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Jerry Uelsmann

"I try to  begin working with no preconceived ideas."

— Jerry Uelsmann

American Photographer

1934 -

I have found that there are two ways that creative leaders work.  Some writers, artists, photographers plan their work.  Some writers will outline their entire book before starting to write.  Some artists will have planned their entire painting before painting the final work.  They will even do sketches of what they want to create.

Other creative leaders begin without any preconceived ideas.  They let the creative muse direct where they are going.  They start writing and let the story develop over time.  They start painting and wait to see what happens.

What are your working habits?  Do you plan everything in advance?  Or do you let the muse dictate where you are going?  Or do you do some combination of the two.

Here is a video of some of Uelsmann's surrealistic photography.

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Francis Bacon

Self-Portrait with Injured Eye
(1972)

"You know in my case all painting — and the older I get the more it becomes so — is an accident.  I foresee it, yet I hardly ever carry it out as I foresee it.  It transforms itself by the actual paint."

— Francis Bacon

British Artist

1909 - 1992

Even when we plan our creative work and think we know where we going, we often don't end up there.   The creative muse has a mind of her own and chooses to go where she wants to go.  Often what we set out to create is changed and molded through the process of creating.  Forms and shapes evolve and are reborn.  Words shift and transform themselves into something other than what they are.

Do you believe the creative work that you do to be an accident?  Or do your creative works turn out as you imagined them?  Do you work along side your muse or do you hide her in the closet and tell people she does not exist?  Do you ever surprise yourself by what you create?  Or does one plus one equal two?

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John Steinbeck

"Ideas are like rabbits.  You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen."

John Steinbeck

American Novelist

1902 - 1968

Do you ever have too many ideas?  Sometimes when I am writing I am swamped with ideas and sometimes I don't know which ones to choose.  Writing fiction is full of opportunity.  Do you make the main character tall, short or medium height?  Does he have blonde, black or curly hair?  Does he have physical, social or mental disability?  Hundreds of questions.  Thousands of answers.  Sometimes having too many ideas can become a barrier to creating.  Writing fiction requires making choices — choosing a path to follow and not looking back.  The characters take on a life of their own.  

What is the best path to follow?  What are the best choices to make?  Sometimes I have ten ideas, but only two or three are worth keeping.  Don't be afraid of choosing — of following a path to where it takes you.  And keep the ideas coming.  Even bad ideas can lead you somewhere new and inviting.  The good ideas won't appear if there are no bad ideas on which to stand.  Light a candle and watch the ideas grow by leaps and bounds.

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Paul Klee

"Nothing can be rushed.  It must grow, it should grow of itself . . ."

— Paul Klee

Swiss Painter

1879 -1940

The creative process cannot be rushed or forced.  It must evolve at its own rate.  Sometimes it moves slowly and other times with the speed of light.  And the creative process cannot be managed or controlled.  It has a mind of its own.  You cannot flip a switch and suddenly be creative.  Some writers and artists have rituals they hope will invoke the creative muse to  visit them, but the rituals usually don't work.  Deadlines will not pressure the creative muse to appear.  And neither will procrastination.  The creative process takes its own sweet time.  Some take drugs hoping to break down the walls and release the imprisoned muse.  They are deluded.  

So what can we do?  Work.  And work some more.  Work when you feel creative.  Work when you feel terrible.  The key is to keep working even if what you produce is worthless.  The creative muse demands it.

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