Exploring courage and creativity

Courage and Creativity

I was walking the Venice Canals the other week after a long brainstorming session on creativity when I came across one of those little sidewalk libraries.

Just before that, the person I’d been working with had told me I had to read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert.

And of course, there it was. Sitting right there on the shelf.

I picked it up, started reading as I walked, and then stopped cold on page eight and re-read it over and over. So, I had to share it with you:

An excerpt from Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

I’ll never forget what Professor Jack Gilbert told a shy University of Tennessee student. This young woman recounted to me that one afternoon, after poetry class, he had taken her aside. He complimented her work, then asked what she wanted to do with her life. Hesitantly, she admitted that perhaps she wanted to be a writer.

He smiled at the girl with infinite compassion and asked, “Do you have the courage? Do you have the courage to bring forth this work? The treasures that are hiding inside you are hoping you will say yes.”

So this, I believe, is the central question upon which all creative living hinges: Do you have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you? 

Look, I don’t know what’s hidden within you. I have no way of knowing such a thing. You yourself may barely know, although I suspect you’ve caught glimpses. I don’t know your capacities, your aspirations, your longings, your secret talents. But surely something wonderful is sheltered inside you. I say this with all confidence, because I happen to believe we are all walking repositories of buried treasure. I believe this is one of the oldest and most generous tricks the universe plays on us human beings, both for it’s own amusement and for ours: The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them.

The hunt to uncover those jewels—that’s creative living.

The courage to go on that hunt in the first place—that’s what separates a mundane existence from a more enchanted one.

The often surprising results of that hunt—that’s what I call Big Magic.

I mean… come on.

“Do you have the courage… The treasures inside you are hoping you will say yes.”

What a sentence.

Whether or not you call yourself an artist or a “creative,” we all have these jewels hidden within us. The part of you that sees the world a little differently. The part that wants to create something, build something, express something. It’s in there.

So maybe this is your reminder to listen for the whisper and go on that hunt.

Take a long, slow, deep breath in…

Can I take this moment
to quiet the noise of everyone else’s voice
and get present with my own inner voice.

To notice the treasures inside of me
that I’ve been hiding from everyone else
and maybe even from myself.

Can I open up my heart
even when I feel the urge to close
and uncover one of my jewels today.

To the world,
or even simply to myself.

Exhale.