I was caught off guard. My spiritual mentor asked me today if I was gentle to myself.
“We must be Jesus to ourselves,” she said.
I was taken aback. I’ve heard about being Jesus to others, but I don’t think I’ve thought about using the same grace or perspective with myself.
Be gentle with yourself, as Jesus would be compassionate and gentle with you.
Any other way takes your life away. Saps you.
Peace to you,
-Lisa
I’m writing as “Sparky Pronto” (my alter ego) who has the wisdom of the Muses to spark your creative muse and give you encouragement.
• Ignore insinuations that creating isn’t part of your reason for being here.
• When you make good art consistently, eventually you will be rewarded.
• Only a few people will “get you” and what you’re doing, if any do at all. That is no reason to stop creating.
• If you feel alive when you create, it’s crazy to stop or let it lag. Don’t.
• Creativity is like water. Jumping into a creative flow will be messy. Know that going in.
Originally The Muses refer to nine goddesses in Greek mythology who control and symbolize nine types of art known to Ancient Greece. As daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (memory personified) Muses are associated with artistic inspiration. It’s actually a rather clever pairing The Divine & Memory…a kind of divine memory or “remembering the divine nature of being creative” perhaps. Note the word used within “amuse”, “museum”, “music”, and “musing upon” still carry a bit of this in their meanings.
What I appreciate about the idea of Muses in association with creativity and inspiration is the notion that brilliance is not sourced in us. Instead by careful listening and doing the work we join up with something transcendent as we engage in creative pursuits.
This serves as a needed inoculation from the perils of both failure and success. Creative types…and by that I mean me (and maybe you)…are notoriously melancholy and can succumb to discouragement when we assume too much responsibility for our creative endeavors. When some of the pressure is off we do better.
Have you heard from your Muse lately?
What are you most proud of creatively?
UPDATE: All the volumes are now in 1 digital book!
See you tomorrow!
