[box options] You’re reading creative passion love (or hate) letters from yourself, to yourself. You wrote what you are about to read. You wrote it with your life.
If this is your first visit, start here with Day 1.[/box]
Dear Me,
Before we jump into today’s letter of your creativity rehab bootcamp, here’s what you’ve written about thus far…
Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 were all about getting yourself to feel again. You might’ve felt angry or frustrated at first. But mostly you felt empowered after you wrote this. You realized you’ve abandoned your creativity.
Passion begets passion.
In Day 4 you identified the four surrogates that make you think you’re living, feeling and creating. But they’re masqueraders.
Day 5 shined a spotlight on the cockroach of apathy, the first surrogate to creative passion, and it scurried away.
Ahhhh… and here we are at Day 6. How do you feel tackling these demons?
Empowered? Furious? Frustrated?
On this path you’re on, it’s just good to be feeling. For so long you felt nothing but confusion and ambiguity.
In a world of numb, artists make us feel.
At least you’re feeling again.
At least you’re angry or inspired or fill in the blank .
At the very least, feel something.
The Second Surrogate
Your creative passion is real, it’s true and it’s powerful.
It carries with it the energy, zeal and fire to inspire you to never quit. It’s a never ending supply of inspiraiton and gut-driven tenacity to keep working.
To keep experimenting.
To keep making mistakes.
To ultimately find some gems among among the work.
Then lust makes an appearance.
I’m not talking about sex.
I’m not talking about porn.
I’m talking about a relationship to your creative passion that is not sustainable.
Lust: Faux Creative Passion
Remember your first date with your creativity? With your artist? With the last idea you had?
It went like this…
- You cherished the time.
- You weren’t in a rush.
- You focused on your artist, not yourself.
- You held hands and got to know each other.
- Time stood still.
And lust is the exact opposite. It’s a temp worker in a full-time position.
Lust begs you to rush instead of relating.
Lust uses your artist strictly for money and power.
Lust overpowers your artist and creates an environment of fear, intimidation and insecurity.
The Cure
There is no cure for lust.
It must be killed.
And the only way to kill it is to love.
Lust dies where love lives.
When love rules your creativity…
- Freedom replaces fear.
- Respect trumps insecurity.
- Joy supersedes shame.
When true love and passion for your creativity drown the surrogate of lust, your relationship with your creativity is sustainable. It will last.
And it’s a lovely relationship.
Question: How’s your relationship with your artist and your creativity going?
[box options]I’m nearly finished with my first creativity e-book, Ten Commandments for Creatives and it’s going to be an empowering tool. I’ll be sending out a newsletter once or twice a month with inspiration related to the Ten Commandments for Creatives. Subscribe to it HERE. Many thanks for visiting and subscribing![/box]
That is powerful, Andrew. I love the parallels to our work, as it relates to passion. Lust causes us to rush through a project–love helps us to take our time and care, to nurture so we don’t lose passion by being forceful.
Nurturing is key. Taking our time in our creativity yields better results than rushing.
Nurture indeed. That’s a good word that I didn’t use in the post. Dang, I should do a rewrite!
Thanks for the suggestion Scott!
SO well said, my friend.
“And the only way to kill it is to love.” I love that this is true both in “traditional” lust (I’ve never used those two words together) and the creative lust you speak of.
This is deep stuff, Zahn. I love your message here regarding tapping into the true love and passion for your art.
That parallel was a bit of a surprise to me as well when I was writing it!
Wow. I never would have drawn a parallel between lust and the creative battle. Beautifully done. Stoked to hear that it’s all coming in an e-book as well!
You better believe I’m hoping you’ll be one of the first few to read it Todd. I want and would covet your input!
I would truly be honored, friend!
As always, beautifully said. Looking forward to the book!
Thanks for your encouragement Michael.
Andrew, I want you know that I have been following along via email. What I’m working on is a labor of love, and I’m taking my time.
I’ve slowed down while writing posts, too.
The flip side of following my love is that I’m less available on blogs and social media.
I
So glad you’re doing that Chad! Can’t wait to hear about your work.
“Lust dies where love lives.”
Such a powerful line, Andrew. Lust in any shape and form, dies when we truly love.
Thanks Jason!