Yesterday I wrote a bit about the role that Emotion and Passion can play in the creative process. Yeah, they can be good motivators. And, if Passion is properly channeled, as in having a Passion for the work rather than being driven by some external event, it can be quite helpful. I mean, how many times have we stopped doing something that we once loved to do because we “lost our passion” for it?
Lord knows I have!
At one time I would strap on a guitar and it would stay there for up to 8 hours!
Simply because I was passionate about learning and playing.
Now? I think it’s been at least 2 years since I opened the case.
That example kind of points to where I am going with this post.
This morning during my daily quiet time I opened my journal to write.
Crickets.
There was not one thought or idea the came to the front of my brain demanding to find its way on to the blank page.
This seems to happen way more often than when so-called “inspiration” strikes.
So, I wrote that down.
“I got nuthin'”.
These are the times when we creative folk need to show up and do the hard work of, well, creating.
We can’t count on some great inspiration to ignite our passions so that we can create that Great Magnum Opus that we all know is just waiting to be birthed from the fertile soil of our imagination!
Yippee!
No, these are the times when we just need to get down to business and create something. Anything. No matter how bad or uninspired.
Write! Play! Dance!
Whatever the expression that we have, we need to use!
Yes, it’s true that, as Thomas Edison said, “Success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.”
For those of us who aspire to create stuff, the ratio may be more like .5% inspiration and 99.5% perspiration.
At least, that’s how it feels to me sometimes.
Creating things, whether cobbling words together, making music, or building a bat house, is all hard work.
And, it takes discipline to stick to the tasks we’ve been given.
Especially, when it’s Just Not Happening, we need to Make. It. Happen.
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