A Simple Invitation for the New Year
I don’t know about you, but it’s only the 4th day of January and I’m already exhausted by the posting of goals, plans, resolutions, non-resolutions, intentions, projects, getting-things-done, one words, three words…
As an antidote, here’s a simple invitation.
(Okay, so I know it’s not really simple: it’s also challenging, demanding, game-changing, revolutionary. Yes, that kind of simple.)
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you ~ Martha Graham
It blew my socks off when I read it.
Could that be it? Just: keep the channel open?
Black and White Solway, by Joanna Paterson
You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work.
(What a sense of relief! Inner critic: beat that!)
Just: keep the channel open.
Perhaps it’s as simple as that.
~~~
Many thanks to my creativity partner Jan Scott Nelson for sharing this quote. You can find more of Jan’s nuggets at her Jan Scott Nelson site, on Twitter @janscottnelson, and at her Facebook page Creating Space for Women
When Jan posted this, it caught my attention too – isn’t it wonderful! This is the bit which made me sit up! ‘It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions’
This passage has long been a personal favorite of mine . . . I think it really is THAT simple (not easy, mind you, but simple) thanks for putting it forward, Joanna!
~peace and joy~
Paula
Joanna,
This is powerful and timely. Thank you.
Conor
Hugely this simple and this NOT easy. For every clear channel there is a plethora of flotsam and jetsam drawn to its force. Wanting to catch a ride to the larger sea…takes practice and stewardship to keep the flow going. And wisdom when to let it rest.
Love the quote.
Found another about the “action we are meant to perform.” Not the good or bad or it, just the action we are meant to do. I think we’re well into the doing of it by Jan 4th IMHO.
Gorgeous gorgeous black and white. It breathes beautifully. I have a simple word for the year: Love, especially love what you do and every part of it. Let’s get on with it shall we?
Yes, it really is just that simple: Just keep that channel open. I’ve been practicing this as a discipline for decades. I’m sure I first read this quote a long time ago, and have made it part of my creative life—and I appreciate seeing it again, so thank you for the reminder.
As a writer, I’m not one of those “you must write a poem a day as practice” sorts. My discipline I’m sure looks undisciplined to many other writers. My discipline is very simple: Always be ready for a poem to appear. Don’t go looking. Just keep that channel open. I practice the same way in writing music and in making visual art. What I’ve discovered is that the channel is always open, although it doesn’t always go down the same path. I practice artistic crop rotation, and I’ve found that as a result, “writer’s block” doesn’t exist. Just keep the channel open, and the water always flows through it. It might not come out as writing every day, is all. It might come out in other ways. But it’s always there.
Martha Graham – brilliant. Thank you for sharing the quote Joanna. Let’s all live our days with the intention to be open and aware, and allowing ourselves to uniquely be expressed through our actions. Ka-bang!
@Arthur Durkee: I love that Arthur! Artistic crop rotation indeed: )
Love the idea…but disagree with it entirely.
If you don’t believe in yourself, you’ll have no reason to keep the channel open (in my opinion).
Your mileage may vary, of course….
Barbara,
That’s an interesting point of view. I am wondering if we have to believe in a force for it to be. The state of being, does it require belief? Or isn’t it just it until it isn’t? Uh oh, you’ve caused me to go all metaphysical, shaking head and laughing while getting a cup of tea and heading back to studio.
Thank you for this quote. I wrote something about the pursuit of happiness yesterday, but this took me on a much different line, here:
http://vaneramos.livejournal.com/697475.html
Ah, Joanna, I’m so glad this touches you the way it does me! It gives me such a buzz, to feel that by just doing, by being ever more true to myself, I can bring something unique into the world. Having ‘permission’, if you will, to just follow those expressive urges, no matter what self doubt exists, will allow us ultimately to override the doubtng voice.
For me, the words struck deep. They are on the wall in my quiet room, the room where I see my clients, and have already provoked debate and reassurance.
Thank you for being my creativity partner (I love that!!)
Oh yes.
That’s it, that’s the spot, there’s the knot, just there, in between my shoulders and ohhh, you just pressed in the right place to release the tension.
Thank you. And happy new year to you x
@Jackie Walker: It is indeed wonderful Jackie, with so many lines that work on different levels. The call not to compare is v compelling.
@Paula Swenson: You’re right Paula, not easy but simple, except when you totally embrace the message, and everything becomes as easy as can be
@Conor Ebbs: we will keep reminding each other Conor
@Janice Cartier: I love the way you’ve developed the channel metaphor – of course there is flotsam and jetsam. ‘Stewardship’ is a great word here… it is something about being willing to hold the space without knowing the how or the why or the where…
Love your choice of word. I found myself wondering just before the new year, what would happen if we all stopped fretting about our linguistic choices and simply, all, opted for ‘love’. Must be the old hippy in me
@Arthur Durkee: thanks for sharing those perspectives with us Arthur. That’s how I see my practice developing too – it doesn’t mean writing every day but it means living each day as a writer, as a poet.
“Always be ready for a poem to appear. Don’t go looking. Just keep that channel open.”… absolutely.
I think you must have worked your way into my article on Patti Digh’s site too – live so the poems can find you. It’s as much if not more about the way you live as the time you make available to sit down and write.
@Elana: Ker bang indeed!
@Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach: I do understand what you mean Barbara, and can’t quite put my finger on how this quote spoke to me of something beyond that… something that calls beyond the times when doubt is winning and you don’t believe in your work, when your energy is low, when you can’t see where it’s all heading… but you keep doing it anyway. It goes somehow beyond your own knowledge, ego, conscious mind… there’s something humble about it, beyond your own comprehension, like being a channel, or a vessel…
Don’t know if that makes sense at all.
@Van Waffle: Thanks for sharing the link, it’s an interesting follow up. I think western society has gone far wrong in its obsessive pursuit of happiness – not least as it doesn’t seem to make us happy
I don’t find a creative life particularly ‘happy’ and there is lots of dissatisfaction involved, but it does feel more true than ways of living I’ve experienced before. For me congruence is a more powerful state than happiness. I feel good when things are congruent, including writing / creative work… flowing from and in line with my sense of what matters… but far from being a quick and easy route to happiness
@Jan Scott Nelson: I can see how they’d make a good talking point, as well a way to ground yourself back into your own creative space. As you can see, the words have generate much conversation here too, as well as some declarations of ker-bang
Thanks as ever Jan for sharing your experience of the creative journey with such openness and honesty.
@Emma Newman: what better feedback could a girl ask for?! happy new year, and blog birthday Em