Elizabeth Gilbert on Creativity

It’s been all too long since I really posted. For some, summer is a slower time, with opportunities to enjoy cocktails at sunset with friends, and opportunities where you can escape on weekends – I mean really escape – and be transported to another time and place where the only thing that matters is when the sun sets and when high tide is. Then I got a link to this talk by Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert where all of a sudden, I had this moment of clarity.

Gilbert talks about creativity and its source in this video. She describes how one can't make creativity. You can't force it and you can't muster it up from inside. No, creativity is like a house elf. Like Dobby, from Harry Potter. When the timing is right, s/he will come and visit (and hopefully stay a while). To say this hit home for me is an understatement; I had to share it with you!!

This summer really hasn't been a time to disconnect; to lose myself in nature, for a myriad of reasons. Sure, I’ve gotten away, but with a jam-packed agenda and save for one weekend (pictured) no real chance to just sit there and just be. The most recent adrenaline-fueler was Hurricane Irene, which oddly for me had me waking in fits and starts at all hours of the night and kept my heart racing for the better part of the day. No real need for caffeine when you’ve got a hurricane bearing down on you!

But amidst those mere two days without power (and I can say that, since I have a couple of dear friends who still don’t have power now nearly 6 days later), I was reminded of maybe why Irene happened to come and share her presence just then – to remind me to disconnect.

So for a short time, that’s what I did in an effort to recharge my batteries. I spent the day of the storm frolicking about in roaring winds and capturing the house-sized waves on the camera. I went on a long bike ride, checking out all the surf spots in town (pre-Irene) to see who was out on their longboards and the curve of the rollers. I even awoke bright an early Monday morning, to a cloudless sky and a crisp 60 degrees to survey the storm damage on my morning run. Even though I was dog-tired, something inside me brought lightness to my step.

So my words for you this weekend? Do the same. Disconnect. Leave work and worries behind. Sit and watch the clouds float by; look at the way the wind ruffles blades of grass. Watch the raindrops fall. Live moment to moment and do what you only really want to do in your core. You just might find yourself moving to a place where there is room for creativity and inspiration to come, visit, and perhaps, stay a while.