Episode 4: Elephant Steps & Poetry = Green Guitar

 

Today’s conversation included seemingly unrelated tidbits about helium balloons, creativity, green guitars and cockroaches—and yet, it was all indeed one train of thought. Tricia began by letting Rob know that she had nothing to say today—“nothing to offer the world.”  He simply laughed.  Apparently he felt that maybe she’d think of “a few things.”

 

Together they discussed the writer’s inspiration, how it comes to you—and the requirement that you must “show up.”  Tricia highly recommended a book (referenced below) by Andrew Peterson, as it is about his creative process as it happens in community. He explains at the beginning that he is a practitioner of his own style of creative process, and he then writes about how it works for him.

 

Sometimes inspiration can feel like “holding onto helium balloons in a windstorm.”  Our best and most creative ideas seem to come at the most inopportune times, but we must be ready to make note of the inspiration when it shows up. Rob keeps a list of prompts, for when an idea shows up in his head but he can’t follow up on it right then.

 

Rob has never broken a bone, but knowing that his sister has broken a few, he reflected on a statement he had heard recently: “The only part that hurts about breaking a bone is when you break it. The healing doesn’t hurt; it hurts less and less every day.”  He wanted to know if Tricia feels that this statement is true, based on her own experience with broken bones and other hurts, both physical and emotional pain.  She made valuable observations regarding when it is true—and when it is definitely false.

 

Both prefer to be optimists, but sometimes optimism can mask false hope, which can cause one to lose hope altogether. Tricia and Rob discussed ways to keep real hope alive and not fall into the trap of false hope that might encourage you for a moment but will then let you down. 

 

Tricia taught Rob a new word in this episode: “academician.”  And Rob made up a word of his own: “academagician.”  That new one just might stick.  His second made-up word, “acadalmation,” probably won’t.

 

Wise Thinkers Mentioned in this podcast:

Bob Goff: emailing an idea to himself and asking “does that just sound good, or is it really true?” – and – “Be in the place where your feet are.”

Will Smith—his secret for winning at life’s challenges.

 

References:

The War of Art, Stephen Pressfield

Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making,  Andrew Peterson

 

What motivates you? Are you motivated by finish lines?  Or are you motivated by start lines that don’t have a clear finish line in mind at all?