5 maggio 2013, domenica

Clarissa Pinkola Estes scrive su Facebook Dear Brave Souls: The Four Errors Many Creatives Make... so that things never come to fruition... 1. Thinking one has to have large amounts of time set aside in order to do quality work. 2. Thinking one needs to be in a peaceful [fill in blank with your own adjective] environs in order to do quality work. 3. Thinking one has to absolutely have every nuance down pat before starting, in order to bring forth quality work. 4. Thinking one can do without a plan and arrive at your destination. Here are the remedies for each of the above: 1. set your goal to write, sculpt, paint, teach, plan, clean, create, do, care, watch, research and more... for x minutes/hours a day. Do it. 2. Know you can write write, sculpt, paint, teach, plan, clean, create, do, care, watch, research and more in the midst of spaghetti flying, dogs barking, headaches, upset tummies, alluring people or activities, darling children, good elders, mates, friends, having no time to pick up the house, and facing big challenges, and walking through hell. Do your work. Daily. 3. For Krikey's sake, I know you know the Creative Spirit is a being who co-creates with you. Let it. Dont starch the whole into flatter than a pancake. Leave room for the animating spirit to bring other worlds, other ideas to the fore. Leave gates. Interstices. Sluice openings. Listen to what I tell you. 4. Make your outline, plan, table of contents, draw it, paint it, write it out. Plaster it to the wall. Follow it AND/BUT leave openings for the Holy Ghost and the Angelitos and Santitos to come visit you, and to say to you, 'this way, this way...' Here is just a snapshot of my day today... rise, pray, bathe, usual morning ablutions, rice cake and cashew butter breakfast, ginger tea. Look at list I made last night. Know I cannot complete it all in one day. Red stars next to priorities. Call store to see if two items are in. They are not. Saved me a trip. Put gas in truck. Scored cardboard boxes for recycling. Came to writing table, looked at outline of newest work I have idea for. I havent read it in two days, so it's fresh. I'm excited. It's going to work. Spend a few minutes saying, I'm not sure I can do this newest project because of x, y and z. I get over it be recalling that many souls are waiting for most of us to get over our wonderings and just do the work. I sit and handwrite for pages and pages. An hour goes by. I estimate 800 words. My hand hurts. The entire work needs at least 80,000 words. Spend a minute agonizing over whether I will ever be able to know enough to make 80,000 words that are useful, meaningful and beautiful and hold together for this purpose. My angels say knock it off. I go eat some berries. I clean the sink, and take a load of workout clothes to the washing machine. I would set the timer, but cant find the timer. I MUST clear off my desk [again]. I get four boxes. 8x10 papers, clothing [dont ask], objects, books. I answer emails then, get at least six responded to. I make two business phone calls. I speak with my family via one means or another for about twenty minutes, ten of which involves finding a funny picture to send that will make them laugh. I go back to my writing desk. I feel tired. Need protein. Get some fish and a salad. Better. Spend 20 minutes doing research on exotica having to do with butterflies, and timer [i found it] goes off. Down the stairs, get laundry out, put in next load. Back up stairs, receive a phone call, talking happily about things that have NOTHING to do with exotic butterflies. I write out at my desk the three overdue projects and another timeline for them, realize for the zillionth time i truly really really need a clone, a squadron of clones. lol. I create an outline for a new project. I look at a video of info I need, but dang, I despise videos when all I need is ten minutes worth of WRITTEN info, but have to watch 59 mins of video to get it all. I respond to three emails re post trauma recovery and several asking for prayer. I stop around mid day to pray. Then, I go back and watch the video, take notes, annotate notes, file notes. Something falls over in house. I know it is the Invasion of the PUddytats or something like that. It is actually a small shelf that was way overloaded and sort of went sideways against the wall. I unpack shelves and put two tons of books away where they belong. I go back to work table, uh oh, timer goes off again. Downstairs, another round of laundry. I am feeling semi puritanical... all clean clothes ALL at once! lol. I set up the chapters of the projects, making a ms word file for each one. I start typing in my notes. I stop to write some more by hand... it is now time to find my Dremel to file down this sharp part of the mdf desk that broke and left a snag. I actually know where the drill is. I use it. Better now. I have to carry a bookcase upstairs. I disassemble it, and roughneck it up two flights of stairs. better. I have to fix dinner now, and then take out the garbage. I do notice toilets need whatever... they are insatiable with needs. I just replaced two flappers with one more to go. It finally came to be about 6pm. I am not done with the days work or the day's writing. But/and at 6pm, I have gotten about 1600 good solid words on the page, plus clean clothes, plus family touch, plus decent food, research time, and more. THIS IS A TYPICAL DAY ... and I havent even gone into nighttime which can be more peaceful or hectic depending on who needs what first. Remember WWRWTW was written over a twenty year period while raising kidlette, going to school and working full time. The bookends to my creative life is prayer, upon rising, at mid day, and at the end of day, since I was a child, I will close with the final prayer of the Angelus. I dont suggest anyone work like I do, not pray as I do, not bookend the day as I do.... just that you do the work daily in your own way, in ways that fit for you and ways that bring... I know you know what I'm going to say, that which I tell you often... "Progress, NOT perfection" is the goal I set for myself, and I gently suggest to you. If in doubt, I suggest you listen to me. I've got the hash marks, the scar tissue, and the street creds. And remember again from WWRWTW, we carry the peaceful forest within us at every moment of day and night. The outer world may or may not match. But the interior forest, la selva subteranea, the subteranean forest that is wild and chaotic in ideas and peaceful in planning, is where we create from. Go on now, it's not too late to take five minutes or fifty to add to, add to, add to... each in her own way, each in his own way, as each soul sees fit. This comes with love, dr.e