According to creativity expert Eric Maisel’s Coaching the Artist Within, we must all learn to create in what he terms “the middle of things” — things being both external and internal constraints limiting what we believe we can accomplish. Facing External and Internal Barriers Certainly we must create while life goes on, whether we face […]
In Coaching the Artist Within, creativity expert Eric Maisel discusses the mental energy required to create. Unlike physical energy which is based on food/sleep inputs, mental energy depends on your interest, passion, desire, concern – the intensity you apply to creating. Your mental energy is depleted by mental activity, including creating – and not creating! […]
When you think about your creativity, do you think holistically? Or do you reflexively distinguish between, for example, being process-oriented or product-oriented? Do you split personal work from commercial work? Pit disciplined work against the flow of creativity? These are the kinds of dreaded polar opposites or dualistic thoughts Eric Maisel highlights in his self-improvement […]
According to Eric Maisel, psychologist, creativity expert and author of Coaching the Artist Within, the antidote to self-sabotaging negative self-talk is training yourself to stop the wrong-thinking and start thinking right. In other words, he recommends replacing block-inducing anxious self-talk with affirmations. You may be familiar with affirmations from other creativity books such as Julia […]
In his creativity book Coaching the Artist Within, Eric Maisel insists we need to get a grip on our mind, take charge of our own self talk. We talk to ourselves all the time, and all too often what we are saying in our self-talk is not helpful. We talk ourselves out of creating, out […]
Here I am not moving any faster than the slowest part of myself. This is awfully slow, lately. Speaking as a Type A person. But as a recovering blocked creative, if I ask myself why so slow off the mark, I find many answers. The main one lately is lack of direction no, clarity no […]
Seth Godin says snark = quick ‘n dirty and fun ‘n easy while earnest = less shiny, long term better. He’s probably right, he’s a plenty smart guy. What can we learn, if anything, from either or both kinds of criticism? Sometimes there’s a kernel of truth in the snark, or a hit you over […]
Throughout The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron stresses how blocked creatives tend to be stuck in our own heads, and how the antidote to blocking is to take action. To keep moving, to embody the spirit of “Create or Die” is a strong statement, but I think it is true for creative people. There is an […]
Are you guilty of work abuse? In Week 10 of The Artist’s Way creativity program, Julia Cameron asks us to consider whether we might be workaholics. While forward progress requires steady work, there is an emotional difference between that and being a work addict. Addicted to Work or Just Busy? There is a difference between […]
Creativity expert Julia Cameron, writing in her creativity manual “The Artist’s Way”, notes that blocked creative types resort to an addictive cocktail of blocks: obsessions with work, food, alcohol, sex or love and more, in whatever form is handy to soothe us. These feel-good-for-the-moment behaviors are essentially creative U-turns made to alleviate fear. Many Different […]