I realize of course that often as artists we need to don the proverbial "rose colored glasses" just to keep moving forward but sometimes that is not enough. That is what I have been dealing with this week.
There is a book I like to turn to whenever I get in this moody kind of... well, mood. It's called The Alchemist
and I have read it several times. Each time I read it, I get some new golden nugget of inspiration and I thought since this week was much "heavier" than most, I would share a little of what I got from this reading; with you, and then share how it affected me as an artist and a human being.
"There is a language in the world that everyone understands. It is the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose and as part of a search for something believed in and desired".
If you are like me and you are actively seeking your desires (dream) every day, the path can get treacherous, is often lonely, has many disappointments and is so very uniquely personal that there is not another single soul on this planet that could possibly understand how burdensome the trek can get sometimes. As I said in an earlier blog post, it has to be about love otherwise it becomes an exercise in masochism. Love alone however is not enough. Love will always give one a clear definitive answer to the ever present question of why... Sometimes reassurance of the why only works to affirm sanity.
I used to think that enthusiasm was a by product of progress... but after reading the quote above, I realize that it is actually the other way around. What I mean to say is that enthusiasm, more often than not, can breed progress. On a larger scale, enthusiasm belongs as part of the journey, sorta like the grease for the hinge. It is so easy to lose focus on the present while working to attain a goal but it is the work that occurs while trying to reach the goal that remains in our memories. The goal reached in and of itself is meaningless without the work. So enthusiastic work seems to me to be the way to go. It's funny but now I know that every time I start getting a little moody, it's because I am not living in the present moment but looking to the future. I sometimes catch myself looking back to the past and the only value I can see from doing that is merely for the nostalgia it tends to generate. Then again, nostalgia is nothing more than a pacifier for those that are fixed on the future.
Eckhart Tolle puts it this way: "The present moment is as it is. Always. Can you let it be?"
What I would like to add to that is ... Can you enthusiastically let it be?
By the way, I read a lot... at the moment I have 4 books going at the same time and a script I am trying to memorize.
The amazing, James Dean used to carry around a number of books with him everywhere he went and would generously unload one of them to anyone he would happen upon who showed an interest in the subject matter of any of the books he happened to be carrying at the time. I get it... and there are several empty spaces on my bookshelves where a favorite used to live. I love to share the things I learn and I will put up links to any significant books that may fit into the subject of one of my blogs. I would love to be able to give you the book itself but now that I am using Google Books, that would mean giving you my cell phone... So, I think the links are a good surrogate for my phone.
Be well, let go and as always,
Much Love and Success!!!
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