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Defining the Creative Life

This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series 100 Things

The act of creation is, ultimately, a personal thing. We may sweat and labor and share with others the experience borne out within ourselves, or we may share the final creation that others might enjoy the fruit of our labors, but in fine, we must ourselves first create and experience beforehand.

There was a tipping point (there usually is, you know), last week, when I realized that creation neither occurs in a vacuum nor on display, that the act itself is intimate and private because it occurs in the places and spaces within my own mind. The act of creation is so far removed from the act of sharing that creation that I should never have conflated the two.

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Unafraid to Be Silent

This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series 100 Things

Silence is rarely appreciated by the silent. Creators want to create; writers want to write; the opinionated want to speak their mind. There seems to be a fear that if we remain silent, if we fail to produce, that we are failures; we have accomplished nothing. To many, it is a cultural assumption that what matters most is the final results of our efforts, but inherent within this cultural assumption is that our results must be achieved by busyness and our waymarks must consistently show progress. We must be loud, we must be busy, never silent. We are in an impatient culture and apply that very impatience to ourselves.

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The fields of our imagination are plowed and planted. Let the fields lie fallow a little while. Let go. Be unafraid of silence.

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