At the moment, I am procrastinating planning my lesson on proposal writing for my business students.
The idea behind this blog post series is that it builds and generates my own creativity. Itsname-- 15 minutes of Procrastination-- is both an invitation to the reader and the time I take on anyone posting. So, something quick and simple.
Except, that, until now, I hadn't really been using this beautiful space to write. But today, I watched this great TED talk from Elizabeth Gilbert, so I thought now would be a good time to jump into it.
Some thoughts:
As an enthusiast, I love her notion that we must put distance between ourselves and our creative genius. To be "enthused" is to be consumed by god. To be overcome.
Thought I believe in god, in godliness. And I believe in a godly force that wants me to be creative, I suppose I had always thought that "me being creative" was a state. But it isn't, as Gilbert so eloquently put it. If my creativity comes from someone else, my job is not to be creative, not some specific thing. Nope, my job is just to show up.
So often, I don't show up. In fact, for the last hour or so, I've mostly been scrolling facebook. Which isn't all bad, that is how I found this video. But still. So many things I could be doing, many of them open in other browsers and windows as I type this. And they have been open all afternoon, glaring at me.
Gilbert mentions the fear that your best is behind you. I feel that now and I've not even accomplished anything yet. I am working, mostly, on revisions at the moment, and as I stare at the words on the page, I wonder if I can make them any better than they are. Will I be able to know what isn't working, will I know the way forward.
The glorious part of Gilbert's message is that I don't have to know those things. It isn't me, or not all me. I just need to show up. And if I do, the genius, the god, that enthuses me either will or won't make it all work. But work will be done, so long as I am paying attention, in the right place to grab god by the tail.