Well, it's been a week since my last post which included Elizabeth Gilbert's fantastic TEDtalk on Creativity. Her video received quite a bit of a response and I'm so happy that it got so many of you thinking and that it touched something deep within all of us. I have taken my own prescription and I have seen that video every single day for the past week. Thanks to the creative minds over at Apple, I have been able to see it and listen to it on my iPhone in the middle of a long commute, while walking the city streets and in bed. After all of these repeated viewings, my daemon and I came up with the following:
I. AM. A. CREATIVE. PERSON.
I love to sing. I love to write music. I love to act. I love to draw. All of these things bring me an immeasurable amount of happiness. Unbridled JOY. Nothing else is as important.
I don't have a degree. I don't have a title. I don't have a PhD after my name. I don't even like to be called an artist. I am just one incredibly fortunate human that knows beyond a shadow of a doubt what makes me happy!
I know what to do, at any given moment, to experience the thrill of living. I love what I do so much that there are nights I actually get mad that I have to go to sleep! I'm like a child that doesn't want to stop playing with a favorite toy. I used to count the hours I had of sleep ahead of me, lamenting that they were a precious few before I had to get to work! Now I count them and deduct hours so that I can get up and run into my studio.
There is no tortured soul. There is no mental illness. There is no drinking or drugging to numb any pain. There is only joy. There is only the feeling of inner peace and calm. There is a sacredness that is being valued and respected with each second spent in the pursuit of the creative.
In the eyes of the world at large, how I spend my days doesn't amount to any sort of success. But in my own my world, I am a great success. Every time I'm DOing something that involves any of my creative abilities, I'm a success. Every time I finish a piece or write another song, I'm a huge success. Every single time tears appear in my eyes and I weep in my studio because I'm just so fucking happy I could burst, I'm a SUCCESS!
I think the time is right to celebrate those that take steps in their lives to live their truth and do what they love. No more pity for the starving artists. In fact, let's stop using terms such as "starving artists" or "tortured artists"! All artists UNITE and REJOICE!! Let's all celebrate our ability to live in the deliciousness that is our CREATIVE LIFE!
Peace, love and light and KEEP DREAMING!
Gene-Manuel
