Letters from the Muse #5: Dance with the soul of the world
Plus some prompts and an update on Simba.
Dear Creative You,
We see you. Sitting at your desk, in front of your easel, pen/paintbrush in hand.
We see you. Taking a deep breath before you begin your creative work, wondering if the words or the painting or the drawing will flow from your fingers today.
We see you. As you make a tentative beginning, and then hit your stride.
We see you. On the days when you stumble and stutter, when you hate everything you produce, when you’re convinced that your ideas have dried out and you have nothing more left to say…to create…
But, dear creative you, don’t you know that your creative voice is not found in a vacuum?
You don’t have to go deep into a cave to find solitude to find your voice, your ideas. You don’t have to constantly excavate your truth or “mine your story”.
You just have to dance.
With life. With the world around you. With your curiosity and your wonder and your tender-big heart.
Soak in the soul of the world. The beauty and the ugliness, the innovations and the inventions, the natural world and the man-made world, the joys and the pain.1
And take this creative materia prima and blend it with your own unique perspective, with your vision and your voice, your heart, your world view, and CREATE!
This dance, between you and the soul of the world, is a never-ending wellspring of creativity.
Come, sip its waters. You never know what stories are waiting to unfold.
A Museful invitation for you
A handful of prompts and invitations to help you to re-enchant your creative practice. Be sure to click on the links for little surprises!
Seed your subconscious. Take some time this week to read deeply, listen to a podcast on a subject that interests you, or soak in some visual inspiration.
Write your first draft with your heart. Rewrite with your head. Works for almost any creative practice — even art!2
Steal like an artist. Look at a piece of art that you love. Steal it. Make it yours.
Writers: Use the opening lines of a favorite novel or poem as your starting point. Copy the sentences, until you feel your own ideas take over. Go with the muse.
Artists: Pick colors, symbols, composition, subject ideas from a painting you love. Re-imagine it. Make it yours. Dance with the muse.
Respond to the soul of the world. Channel your rage at the injustice into a piece of art. Channel your wonder at the world into a piece of art. Let the world inspire you in some way. Even if your first attempts feel childish or silly. Persevere! You will find your voice…your flow.
I’d love to hear how this Letter from the Muse landed with you, and if you try any of the prompts, I’d love to see/hear what came up for you. Drop a comment on this post or reply to this e-mail and let me know?
An update on Simba
A big, heart felt thank you for all your treats and good wishes for Simba. We appreciate all of you so very much!
I’m relieved to share that Simba continues to improve. He still has positional nystagmus when he’s upside down on his back. His depth perception is still off, and he’s still a bit wobbly when he walks, though there’s a noticeable improvement in his wobble. And he still has a head tilt, though I think that has reduced.
We have another vet visit tomorrow. I’m hoping and praying with every fiber of my being that we can avoid putting him through the trauma of having an MRI.
He’s 11 years old, which means he will need a batch of tests before he can be given a general anesthesia and put into the MRI machine. We really want to avoid that unless it’s absolutely necessary. I’m hoping we will have a clearer idea after tomorrow’s vet visit. 🤞
Please send a little prayer for him, if you can, and if you’d like to send him some treats, just click on the button below. {Please write “Simba” in the notes.}
Signing off with nosey rubs and special biscuits from Simba!
And oh, there is so much pain. You don’t have to literally immerse yourself in it to create. Chances are, you are aware of/exposed to multiple injustices every time that you browse through social media or open the newspaper anyway. I also know that some of us are highly sensitive, and looking upon the pain in this world can literally be painful for us. The invitation here isn’t to do something that’s uncomfortable, but rather to channel our discomfort into art. I’ve found that I can transmute a lot of the pain and suffering and anxiety and fear through the painting process, and I know of writers who can do that through their words. That is the invitation for you.
This clip is from the absolutely brilliant movie, Finding Forrester. You can stream the entire movie on YouTube!
Goodness to you, Shinjini. And Simba…