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| Elizabeth Gilbert is an an American author. |
Describe me in one word. I would love at least 40% of the answers to be: “Creative”. That is because creativity, to me, is the one of the most valuable innate traits a person can have -and because I like to think that I am creative. Being creative is something I love to explore, because I know your creativity has the potential to grow if you feed it (inspiration). That is why I found the TED speech of Elizabeth Gilbert (Author of “Eat, Pray, Love) very inspiring and all-around special.
Perhaps, it is Gilbert’s approachable persona or her witty humor, but you are just drawn to her and her powerful ideas. During her presentation, she makes a distinction between creative people and the left-brained. The best-selling author points out that there is a certain risk involved with being an artistic individual. Why? Because there is a constant pressure to outdo yourself or others if you want to stand out.
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| She penned this best-seller! |
In her compelling speech, she references the Ancient Romans, who believed creativity came from a divine entity called a “genius”. According to her, it was not after the Renaissance when someone was considered “to be a genius,” instead of “having a genius”. Another question is "Do all of us possess genius?"
Gilbert, between spontaneous funny bits, mentioned that it would be far easier on yourself to think that your creative process does not rely solely on you, but also on that divine entity of creativity (your genius). By thinking this, we would put less pressure on ourselves. Elizabeth Gilbert thinks that you should always worry about yourself and “do your job”. Then, if that genius shows up to help you further your creative work, consider it a blessing.
The creative process is different for everyone. For me, I could be totally off track one minute and on a roll the next. Is that my genius messing with me, or, wait… do not tell me I have ADHD?
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| Do all geniuses have big heads like this? |
I do not believe in divine forces or entities, but I have definitely fallen in love with this idea of “having a genius” instead of “being a genius.” There will be a moment in your life when you feel the equivalent of a writer’s block. In that case, if we decide to believe this theory, you would just need to let go and wait for that genius to come to you to give you that push.
By doing so, you will avoid putting unnecessary pressure on yourself. This is especially true for artists, who are bound to live in constant pressure. If we could all learn a lesson from Elizabeth Gilbert, perhaps less artists would be (as she puts it) drinking Gin at 9 in the morning. (No word from Elizabeth if she is talking directly to Charlie Sheen.)
