Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
by Elizabeth Gilbert
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The Executive Summary:
§ Get out of your own damn way.
§ Find your creative flow again (or for the first time).
§ Why it’s important to find your creative flow, and what it means for your life and your work.
For your consideration:
Ms. Gilbert is completely transparent in this non-fiction work, about HOW she works. She’s also transparent about WHY she works, and it isn’t about us – her readers – even though we get tremendous joy/pleasure/growth out of her books.
The bottom line is this: don’t waste your inherent gifts and passions doing ONLY what other people think you should be doing. Wake up your inner spirit by pursuing things you LOVE to do, and do them BECAUSE you love to do them.
It will bring a glow to your cheeks, a sparkle to your eyes, and a melody to your speech that will be indelible on this world.
Favorite quotes:
“A creative life is an amplified life. It’s a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life. Living in this manner — continually and stubbornly bringing forth the jewels that are hidden within you — IS a fine art, in and of itself.”
“You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures. You can battle your demons (through therapy, recovery, prayer, or humility) instead of battling your gifts — in part by realizing that your demons were never the ones doing the work, anyhow.”
“Most of all, be ready. Keep your eyes open. Listen. Follow your curiosity. Ask questions. Sniff around. Remain open. Trust in the miraculous truth that new and marvelous ideas are looking for human collaborators every single day. Ideas of every kind are constantly galloping toward us, constantly passing through us, constantly trying to get our attention. Let them know you’re available.”
“The essential ingredients for creativity remain exactly the same for everybody: courage, enchantment, permission, persistence, trust — and those elements are universally accessible. Which does not mean that creative living is always easy; it merely means that creative living is always possible.”
Have you read this book too? Or has this reivew sparked a curiosity in you? Let’s chat about it!
To your health and happiness,
