THE CREATIVE FIRE

I just finished listening to this amazing book.  The author uses myths, such as the story of Demeter, Persephone and Hades, to explore the creative psyche.  The stories weave together poetic prose, thoughtful insight and inspiration on how to unleash the creative fire that is within us all.  I loved it.  

Some bits I found most interesting were:

- everyone is an artist, before they sit down with a canvas, a camera, a computer, an instrument, a paintbrush, etc.  You can be an artist in how you raise children, how you organize your life, how you cultivate your garden.

- play is essential to develop your creative self -- whatever 'play' is for you -- I think for me 'play' means lots of things -- among them: reading magazines, window-shopping in beautiful botiques, sipping really lovely hot chocolates, painting my toes with a friend, reading juicy books, traveling and trying on lipsticks at a nice department store

- creativity is cyclical -- there is incubation, creation and death of an idea -- follow your gut and your creativity will return, it may just be dormant or incubating for a little while -- when you're 'done' with something creative, it sort of dies -- waiting for new ideas to be born.  

- there are a thousand reasons we lose our creative selves -- good new is it cannot be 'lost,' it's just hiding within and needs help getting out.  those of us who grew up with negative experiences towards our creative selves ("you can't draw, so you can't be an artist."), are more at risk for pushing the creative self down.  To find this within, we must play, we must trust and we must try things we feel naturally drawn to.

The list goes on and on -- those are just a few notes I found of particular interest -- the author's voice is very tranquil, yet full of power and direction.  I highly recommend reading or listening to this analysis.