I was pleading to my Muse and the Higher Powers for creative solutions to both writing and non-writing related problems. "Teach me how. Give me a sign. We already got the synchronicity working so speak to me. Please please please, pretty please, puleeeeeeeze? Should I do this? Should I go there? Should I take this path? Should I stay, should I leave? Should I jump off the cliff? Should I hang myself with my underwear? Silly me! Dragons don't use underwear..."
"If you shut up, it's possible you can actually hear an answer." SAM, my Ninja Muse, growled exasperated. "You can't listen to anyone or anything with so much noise!"
Oops. Yes, sometimes my emotions and fears get the best of me. I try to seek for answers but my head is just making noise like a dragon-size wasps' nest. I may believe I'm looking for a solution but the truth is I'm stalled in the problem. It may feel the same but it's not. In words of Master Oogway, "Your mind is like the water. When it is agitated it becomes difficult to see, but when you let it settle, the answer becomes clear."Shutting up my mouth is easier than shutting up my thoughts, but it's not impossible. Synchronicity happens when instead of speaking, I start *listening* with all of my senses. That's when I usually catch the feedback that helps me to find a solution; a casual conversation, a movie line, a paragraph in a book, a visual, a post, etc. Inner noise is not the only obstacle to miss the answer I'm looking for. I also tend to limit the incoming answers by expecting them to come in a specific shape or from a specific source. Truth is answers may come from any source, in any shape at any given time. That's Life getting creative. After all, aren't we surrounded by Creation?
If it smells to dragon, looks like a dragon, moves like a dragon, then it's a dragon! (Brilliant today, aren't we?) We live among creations, both human and natural. We eat creation, we breath creation, creation sustains us. We are part of a Greater Creation. Wouldn't it be just logic that creativity is inherent to everyone? It is just that we make so much noise that we don't listen to answers that are everywhere. We deny ourselves our birth right to be creative because somehow we've been brainwashed that we're not good enough to manifest *that* creativity.
Well, Papa Dragon is joining the ranks of those who believe they can express greater creativity. Do you think you can join? Don't think. Be sure of it! Be quiet and listen to Creation. Don't wait for creativity. Believe creativity yours because it is yours already. You only have to claim it.
This post is part of Alex J. Cavanaugh's IWSG group. We post the first Wednesday of each month. To find the list click here.
These are great quotes Al! It's true that many people only listen "with the intent to reply." Your last paragraph about believing in creativity also speaks volumes!
ReplyDeleteJulie
That's a favorite quote of mine--"to listen more and say less." Very true and yes, we may get an answer from unlikely sources and in ways we weren't expecting. :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd sometimes, I have to get to those places of silence, surrounded by creation, to hear my thoughts. I can't move forward until I do.
Sia McKye OVER COFFEE
it's like the idea i was given...just walk away for awhile. also helps to shut up the voices in your head about the agony of revisions!
ReplyDeleteYet another powerful post from the draconic master. Listening, truly listening, is hard work. Hard and rewarding work.
ReplyDeleteI love your final paragraph, but remain unconvinced. I am an appreciator rather than a creator I think. A valid role, if not the one I dreamed of...
Really looking and listening can be the greatest aid to creativity. I love your quotes and your sentiments.
ReplyDeleteGood post, although I got a bit distracted with wondering what dragons smell like.
ReplyDeletemood
Moody Writing
The answer rarely comes in the form we expect. Sometimes it's been there all along and we just didn't see it.
ReplyDeleteLike my own Creator, I am also a creator.
Great quotes especially the first.
ReplyDeleteYvonne.
I can totally relate to this. Great post. :)
ReplyDeleteIWSG #118 until Alex culls the list again.
I loved the quote Al. Shutting my thoughts is next to impossible, I can never do that; its a 24 hour non-stop cycle.
ReplyDeletegreat quote... i have too agree... we shall shhhhhhhhh' and listen!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure it's entirely possible to shut my thoughts down. I can kind of squish them for a minute, but they always pop back up! LOL
ReplyDeleteGreat quotes- and sentiments Al.
Stillness and listening are so important. The Chinese philosophers had it right. Do wish you could find a T'ai Chi teacher. Yoga is good too I believe although never tried it.
ReplyDeleteMaster Oogway has some great quotes. It's hard to quiet the mind when there are kids running around and bouncing off the walls. The only time it gets quiet enough for me is at night and I'm either typing away, or asleep. :D
ReplyDeleteExactly why meditation is an effective element to my creativity, and not necessarily a cross-legged, pinching your fingers type of meditation. :)
ReplyDeleteI find peace and quiet in my walking. Or in simply sitting on the back porch and watching the birds play. I love the silence, but sometimes the noise is in my head becomes to loud too, and the only way to silence it is to read. Get lost in another's words, it works wonders for me.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, you have a very wise muse!
When I can't get my mind to be still, I do something mundane. Mow the lawn, weed a flower bed, sort my sock drawer. There is peace in the simple things. Love the quote. I need to post it note that!
ReplyDeleteI need Sam to tell my thoughts to shut up too. I am good at being quiet with my voice but my thoughts are another matter entirely. They make way too much noise sometimes!
ReplyDeleteLove the Covey quote and your last paragraph made me want to cheer. Hooray for Papa Dragon. :)
Hi, Al,
ReplyDeleteSo true the things you've written here. I don't spend enough quiet time listening to my inner man or my muse. Usually, my ideas come as a big bang before I'll pay any attention. The quiet thoughts and what feel like tiny ideas get pushed to the side. Interesting and true quote from Covey.
Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way talks about being quiet to listen to the Creator. I am awful at shutting down my brain and being still. (See Squirrel post of last week). And yet I think I would benefit from being still. Great post. Thanks for reminding me of the need to be still.
ReplyDeleteThat Covey quote is so true! It's one of the worst listening blocks there is and I really have to fight against it.- Maurice Mitchell
ReplyDeleteThe Geek Twins | Film Sketchr
Well said my wise dragon friend! I think, too often, people bury their creativity under the weight of the daily grind, forgetting their ability to be unique, to be great, to live up to their potential that's patiently waiting in the wings for them to discover:)
ReplyDeleteAh, I love coming here. It's time I go and make some silence so I can hear the things I need to find my way. thank you so much my friend.
ReplyDeleteGreat words and a great message. Sometimes, we need to 'self-muse' in order to get the creative juices flowing.
ReplyDeleteI have no doubt that a dragon can achieve this! :)
I practice and practice: yoga for meditation, meditation for stillness of thought, stillness of thought for clarity. Then I doodle a lot. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's a long journey to putting those words down in a way that has meaning for me and perhaps for others. It's a long journey to learning how to listen to what's inside and shut out the "madding crowd."
Brilliant Dragon philosophy here today. . .and creative.
I'm returning your hug. It was a delightful gift on this first Wednesday of July.
Yes, I learned to shut the eff up and listen, especially when I'm dreaming. I hear so many voices then.
ReplyDelete~ Alex's #3 minion
Yes, as usual you've written something I've needed to (hear) read. The art of being still is perhaps the hardest thing to learn. I've had that voice speak to me before, too, so you'd think I'd have learned that by now, but no... :)
ReplyDeleteBolitas to you!
P.S. Please send Pancholin over to my yard with raincoats for Tassin and Sessin. It's very wet here but everytime they come into the house, my cats chase them in circles until they drop. Silly dwarves...
Ah yes, my friend, the good old "IWSG" aka "I Was Seeking Gary" :)
ReplyDeleteI listen to the voice of my inner child. It takes me back to the innocence and the inquisitive wonder of the childlike quality.
Well stated and my comment will not dragon....
I love the first quote! Im a bit of an introvert anyway, so listening more than I talk comes easy for me.
ReplyDeleteSir: this is a message I need to hear, and it is what I was thinking in my own IWSG post today (well, the day I wrote it anyway, lol). I get so far in my writings, and then I see something that needs more development than I'm willing to commit to. My women's fiction trilogy is written in 3rd person through the female lead, and re-reading it now, that's cuz I just don't know how to develop the male lead's illicit life style.
ReplyDelete"I may believe I'm looking for a solution but the truth is I'm stalled in the problem." This statement resonates with me, I question my POV choice all the time. I believe I'm sticking to my female POV because her voice (and social issues) needs to be heard, but then I read so much women's fiction out there that allows the perpetrators voice to cloud the issues. This trilogy is the baby I cut my writing teeth on; but in other works, I'm trying to expand my character profiles - even if it means more work on my part. Uck, work work work!
As a social worker, I try to listen more than speak, but sometimes my writing muse wants to butt into the conversation for story development. Maybe I should have been a journalist instead of fiction writer :)
.....dhole
SAM is a wise Ninja Muse :)
ReplyDeleteAlways good to be reminded of the need to get out of our own way!
ReplyDeleteI love Master Oogway's quote about water. I need to hold on to that thought.
ReplyDeleteWe all benefit from the wisdom shared by a long-lived dragon. And the quote about the agitated versus calm water is great.
ReplyDeleteOh man learning to live in the silence and take it all in...hard for me. Though I agree it is the best way to grow as a person, writer or otherwise. Awesome post.
ReplyDeleteVery nice and inspiring post, Al! I like the way you view things, and also in the way you convey those thoughts. It was so good to see your comment at my blog. I felt warm and cozy dragon fuzzies. Thanks for all your support.
ReplyDeleteM.L. Swift, Writer
I hear you about noisy heads. Know what quieted mine? Writing. And I learned it's OK to make mistakes, erase what I wrote, and try again. Whatever you do, don't hang yourself. Get those cheerleading dwarves working.
ReplyDeleteI so live on quotes to fuel me. Thanks for this. :)
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