I spent several hours in the car today. I normally listen to music on my iPhone when I’m alone in the car. However today, I felt drawn to listen to recent podcasts by Liz Gilbert.
Elizabeth’s newest book, Big Magic, released last year. The subtitle captures the essence of the book, Creative Living Beyond Fear. The book is excellent and I will be reading it again soon. At the beginning of each podcast, Liz explains that although she completed the book, the topic of creativity was not finished. She further explores living the creative life in a series of podcasts.
I, too, am far from finished with creativity. I settled in to be inspired.
It was Divine leading. I had time to listen to three podcasts, and I randomly selected the episodes. I love what shows up when I get out of the way, and surrender to flow.
The first podcast featured Brandon Stanton, author and photographer of Humans of New York. Brandon shared candidly about following passion by getting started, ready or not. Using his own life as an example he spoke about staying in a job that drained his energy, because he felt he had to have a certain amount of money to begin his dream job, photographing and interviewing strangers on the streets of New York City. When at last he began, the end result was different from what he had imagined. However, the project evolved, and became succesful, out of what he created, day after day.
The next two podcasts amazed me. In them, Liz interviewed Brené Brown and Glennon Doyle Melton, in separate sessions. This was interesting timing, because I am currently working through the online course Wisdom of Story, presented by these two courageous women. That’s a synchronicity, and when synchronicities show up in my life, I pay close attention.
Brené shared about the importance of living a creative life. Brené said we are all creative being. We are either being guided by inspiration or ignoring it, which can lead to frustration, resentment and being judgmental of those who are creating. In her studies, she found that shame often surrounds creative effort. Among people who experienced shame as a child, half of them shared that they were shamed for expressing creativity. Many of those children grew up never attempting to create again.
And lastly, Glennon shared her powerful story of finding her voice to express the truth of who she was. She overcame addiction and an eating disorder by seeing that an eviction from a lifestyle is actually an invitation to engage life at a deeper level. The theme of her interview was to find who you are and do what you are here to do, even if you don’t feel ready to offer your gift to others.
That was the common thread that ran through all three podcasts: Don’t wait, begin, ready or not…and have the courage to face your fears so you can begin.
I took the message to heart. I am embracing a creative life, as I write, as I garden, as I create. It is so much more important to begin, than to keep planning, keep perfecting, keep researching. Begin. Keep going. Let inspiration guide me and allow creativity to flow.
I am grateful for Magic Lessons today.
Listen to Liz’s podcasts by going to elizabethgilbert.com and find Podcasts in the dropdown menu.