Create a little chaos, please!

I was planning on what I should write for my next blog entry. What should I create? Hey, why not ponder about creativity once more?

I believe it was Gilda Radner who said that although she wanted a perfect ending, she learned that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle and end. Sounds a bit chaotic and I like that!

Where does creativity come from if not from some kind of instability? Or chaos? Or turmoil? Or spontaneity?

Some experts keep telling us that we appear to ‘not’ be shooting for the stars! Why? Because we don’t measure up to their standards of commerce, or definition of satisfaction as individuals. They say we are not ‘creating success.’
But, most times we set big goals in order to handle something, like a shortage of something….money, relationship, etc. We end up enduring something because of the ‘in order to’ rather than doing something because we love doing it. Have we forgotten that we are spending a life?

More of us would play the specific musical instrument we love if only we didn’t have to follow some ‘standard,’ or to play it using only the correct techniques or the right notes.
How many ‘inaccurate’ notes have caused us to put away the music, or the paint brush, or the pen and paper?

Every time I hear criticism about my playing, I struggle to maintain my perspective. What’s more important anyway, than the actual playing? Is silencing the artist better than enjoying his or her creation, including a mistake here or there?

You can probably guess that I have set up my electric piano, my second keyboard and am back to practicing both at once. Please don’t ask the name of the tunes I play. They include bits from every artist I know. And it keeps me coming back to them, only to play them differently the next time.
Am I thinking big, like winning contests and such, as the experts suggest I should? Heavens, no! I’m too busy having fun.

Think small, I say! Enjoy new things without having to master them! For me, small has worked at times when I was stuck in trying to excel at having fun. Does that even make sense? Being normal is a myth anyway. Change your ‘normal’ every day by sampling new portions of life.

Accept being ordinary and have compassion for each other. Be authentic! Forget the significance about having to be the world’s best something or other. Enjoy being creative.

I have noticed that people are not present to the expression of who they really are. Self-expression isn’t about ‘doing my own stuff.’ When someone watches me ‘self-express’ and scratches his or her head, then I am definitely doing something else besides self-expressing.
On the other hand, when they can ‘get’ the real me, no matter what I am doing, then that is self-expression. Make sense?

So, self-expression is not about doing only the easy stuff. We have removed the more authentic, real parts of who we are, the risky stuff, a long time ago. They are safely tucked away, out of sight of further criticism. It would matter a lot, almost like a matter of life and death, for us to reach into the bag that stores all the ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ and the ‘you’re not good at this’ or ‘you are not meant to be that,’ etc.

Someone once said to me, regarding the critics, “Screw them if they cannot take a joke.” Yes, that would matter a whole bunch! Hey, Gilda, I think we have that perfect ending!

Rich