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musing on [number five. 5. 12. 08]
This is the
fifth issue of
musing on the muse,
my, monthly newsletter about creativity. If you don't want
to receive more musings, click this
photo: craig damon
If you
want to try meditating, I recommend Jack Kornfield's
Meditation for Beginners
Click here to find more games, exercises and experiments to entice the muse and awaken your own creativity |
Paying attention..
click for Post Story
How did the hordes of
D.C. commuters respond to one of the worlds greatest violinists playing,
for 45 minutes, what most musicians, critics and listeners would agree
is some of the most beautiful and compelling Western classical music
that exists? Well, according to Pulitzer winning journalist Gene
Weingarten: Reading this I thought of a saying by the Baal Shem Tov, legendary 17th C. Jewish mystic: "The world is full of miracles and wonders that human beings can blot out by simply closing their eyes." I also recalled the Native American blessing that one may walk in beauty. Once, when I was going off on a long and arduous tour of Europe with TJT, someone advised me to always look for experiences of beauty as I traveled. It was wonderful advice because it opened my attention to the possibilities that are part of every moment, as the Baal-Shem implied. In relation to the “Muse,” attention is paramount. Inspiration lurks everywhere, it can come in the form of angelic music offered up freely in the unlikeliest of venues, or as the faint call of a bird at the edge of morning or as a new story from an old friend. In some forms of Buddhist meditation, the only instruction is to pay attention to whatever your mind, body, emotions happen to be doing. It doesn’t matter whether you pay attention to breathing, thinking, listening or complaining, as long as you don’t judge or choose or try to change anything. If you space out, no problem, since in that moment, you have noticed, become aware, paid attention to the condition of being spaced out. And now what? And now? Now? All you need to do is pay attention to the movement of thoughts or bodily sensations, or sounds, or memories, or emotions. That same kind of attention is essential to any kind of improvisation, any creative act. For less abridged reflections, please visit my blog, where you can also post responses. try this: |
I've made
my first
Interest is growing, so I'm continuing to offer an afternoon workshop called The Creative Moment
The next one's on Sunday, June 8, Join us for some serious fun.
Writing down the Bones
Love Cemetery [click title to buy] will be out in paperback by the end of May.
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The
link below will take you to a Pulitzer prize winning story from 2007
that tells how the Washington Post, as an experiment, asked
virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell to dress as a street musician and play in
D.C.’s busy L’Enfant Plaza subway station with an open violin case at
his feet during the morning rush.
Natalie
Goldberg's classic guide to the original "timed writing" practice, the
inspiration behind many of the exercises I've adapted in my teaching and
on these pages. This book is a wonderful resource for self-retreats and
writing groups.