creativity is a calling

I LOVE being creative, or at least I consider myself to be somewhat creative. Something I also love almost as much as being creative is discussions about creativity, about life and about what it means to find your place and ascend to what makes you feel fulfilled. Getting a intense in here am I right? Didn’t think Flash could be serious, well he can be when he wants to be. BY THE WAY (btw’s for you hip and cool people) I promise to reveal the origins of the the nickname Flash in the not so distant future. Trust me, its nothing cool or exciting but the name seems to have stuck to the point that if I put an order of food under Luke and they call it out I don’t respond. Anyway, I am rambling on, back to the point at hand.

Creativity, for me anyway, is a gift and a curse. My main medium is film, and I like my creativity to spill in other areas of my life. However in my field, and I know others will agree, that it is a every elusive journey for perfection. I will put 14 hours into a short film and then start again because I decide it is not up to my standards. But that is how we evolve and expand our creative minds. BACK to my original point about discussions about creativity, there is this great channel on Youtube called Shots Of Awe which I have linked below and I highly recommend you check out. The link is to one of my favourites, but its Creator Jason Silva does videos on extremely interesting topics like ‘are we already cyborgs?’, ‘conquering our fear of death’ and ‘mirroring gods’. 

The creative mind that we all posses allows us to see the world in a different light, even at its darkest moments. Some people find it easier to tap into this creative field than others, while some express they simply are not creative, but we all have this creative flow state within us, it is just about finding the trigger, or our calling as some might say. One of the most annoying parts of this creative mind is that we want to follow our passions, to not conform, to not be one with the crowd but it takes so courage to do so. We want to take that plunge, to answer the call but some many people do not due to fear, fear of judgement and that it is not considered the norm.

I love the talk by Alan Watts ‘What if money were no object?’ which I have also linked in below, which talks about what job or career or dreams would you follow if money meant nothing, if it was no importance or did not exist. He goes on to say how most people want to be painters and writers, dancers, more to the country, to travel and meet people from different backgrounds but they do not because there is nothing in that, or so they think. I won’t spoil the whole talk but he essentially concludes that you will not live a satisfying life doing a job you hate everyday, and that you should follow your heart, otherwise you will forever be unhappy.

That is all a lot to take in right there but they are awesome things to think about as a results of the ever curious creative brain.

Flash

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA_tjY8osGE – Shots Of Awe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ7Y1-0bNeQ – Alan Watts

Flying Monkeys

I wanted to talk about the notion of understanding. WOW! I know, chill. I don’t want to get too philosophical on you, but hey, its my blog and I can do whatever the hell I want! Well that isn’t exactly true according to the post I will make shortly after this one but I digress.

What does it mean to understand something? A lot the time we think we understand something but we actually have no idea. For example I have a friend who for years has been using the word ‘ambiguous’ in the wrong context, like COMPLETELY wrong. How wrong I hear you ask? Well he would say things like ‘man this coffee is so ambiguous’ and on this occasion I pulled him up on it and he said ‘well it kinda makes sense because of you know, like multiple flavours’ to which I just responded ‘well that is very pretentious or just plain wrong’ and that was that. Silly example I know, and yes I need to get some better company.

Eistein said that ‘Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding’. Michael J Fox (Marty McFly from Back To The Future Trilogy) said that ‘Acceptance doesn’t mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is and that there’s got to be a way through it’. Understanding can be a frustrating thing for many. Whether its a concept in Maths class you simply cannot comprehend, or your telling of a funny story or joke that no one seems to get. Or perhaps even trying to convey what it is like to not be like everyone else or how it feels to lose a loved one.

The ability to understand and to listen is not something you inherit or you are born with, it is a gift, something you earn. Unfortunately not all of us have it, but some of us do. We all have someone in our lives that we know is what the doctors deem or classify  as ‘sick’ which is something I don’t agree with. You desire for your health to be at another point and while one might argue that is is the very definition of sick, consider that no one is sick but that there is merely room for improvement if one wishes it.

I only feel the need to blog about this because I read a story which I have linked below that was saddening but at the same time eye opening and inspiring. I won’t dive into the specifics of it now, and I realise that maybe only 1 in 10 if that may read it but its important that we have an understanding of our society and those around us. A sense of perspective is key successful living.

Flash

http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/navigation/BYDLS-TheSpoonTheory.pdf