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Where's Your Muse?
So, I've always been a very artistic person. But somewhere, I've lost that loving feeling.
Physical arts: I was a kungfu teacher once. I loved the artistry of the movement. Sure, being tough was cool, too, but the poetry and internal/external movement of the body was what I loved. I'm a good dancer. I still train, but it's just working out. My heart isn't there.
I've revisited visual arts, mostly pencil subjects. I'm still good. I'm good with three dimensional art, sculpture, modeling, etc., also.
I'm a good designer, interior or otherwise. Gardening, bonsai, landscaping, you name it.
But there's no love. No fulfillment. I've come back to all these artistic subjects and pursuits, because I suspect this might be one of the 'somethings' I'm missing right now. I don't care about projects or subjects or routines... it's all workmanlike, but my skills are all still there. I don't use these skills in my profession (administration), but I have plenty of time to pursue them.
So, what do you do to pursue your arts when you want them, maybe need them, but just can't find the love for the craft, itself? You have all the skills, the tools, but the task holds no charm. I need to create beauty in my life. But there is no love from the work. Even exemplary finished product is something I have to try hard to be exited about or interested in. I'm a pretty decent guitar player and singer, even! But there's no joy. What do you do?
George, yes yes... I am soooo bad at spending time appreciating others' work because I appreciate mine so little. Such short-sightedness on my part should be remedied, as it would go a long way into putting desire and excitement back into my own work.
Herf...outside the box. You may be onto something there. Lately, I've been thinking about a project that would combine many of my arts, and include those of some of my contemporaries. I wonder if the mechanic that makes one work harder on a team project than solo, in order to avoid letting one's partners down could apply to help keep me focused. Like Flying horse said... sometimes you just have to do the work, and the action produces the love, like a relationship.
Frank Herbert said that he experienced long stretches of writing where he was bored and dissatisfied, and times when he was in a frenzy of excitement about the work. In retrospect, there was never any difference in the quality of product.
Which brings us to the winner...
FH, You really hit the nail on the head, in many ways. Discipline is my horse to beat these days, and the only way to overcome inertia is with the application of force/work. When sitting inertia becomes velocity, it flies because that is its state. The quality of work really isn't at risk. You just need to keep producing work, in order to develop your working muscles.
3 Answers
- FlyinghorseLv 61 decade agoFavorite Answer
This really touches me ;-)
I have been feeling just the way you feel. I create stage peaces, the audience likes it, they applaud and I don't feel anything. It was not like this before. I used to feel the excitement, the love.
Therefore I have been asking me IF it is really necessary to feel the passion to create? My answer has been NO.
In my opinion, we create to make other people feel, and this doesn't mean that we have to get lost in love with our art.
Passion for what we do have to do with so many other things, stress, stress, stress. For example in my last production, besides creating a whole evening, I was working as secretary, producer, creator and performer (!!!) No surprise I could not feel the same thing as when I have just being a creator. Too much stress, too many thing on top of my shoulders. Actually when it was over I was relieved...then I asked myself, are YOU Flying, enjoying this process, and I realize I was suffering (lol)
These are phases, my Muse, is work, just to keep it doing until the feeling comes back again. If we wait to be inspired, we would do nothing. So my advice and what works for me, is just to keep it doing, because if you ask this question is because the love is there. By doing it, you find again that love, that is what I am doing, and I know I will find it again. Actually I know that if I would not create, my life would have no more meaning ;-)
For me is like breathing, and I am not conscious of loving the air, but without it I die.
Hope I am clear, I am battling insomnia
- curious georgeLv 51 decade ago
Sometimes you just don't feel like being artistic, it happens. What I usually do which results in random artistic activity is appreciate the artwork of other people. Or I just sit in a room isolated from the outer world for a while and when I walk into it again I have a clear head which ultimately gives me fresh impressions questions and interpretations. The key here is interpretation and portrayal of that interpretation. Go do something you haven't done before, initiate yourself into crazy experiences, when you ride an elevator face away from the doors, think outside the box. To bring the love back into the old arts try meditating on pieces you have accomplished before doing all that stuff, it should help.
- herfinatorLv 61 decade ago
Flyinghorse and I are pulling 2 sets of oars in the same boat. As for "where is my muse", the little bugger has been in hiding for some time now, but lately I've seen glimpses behind trees and fire hydrants, so hopefully it'll set up residence in my writing room sometime soon.
I understand exactly what you're talking about. I go to bookstores, pick up poetry books or different types of novels, and go, "Hey, I'm better than this." As long as you still have that, nothing's really dead. It's a little different though, in that I know that the fulfillment *would* be there if I would just plant my @$$ back in the chair (or maybe get off Y!Answers, lol). As Wordsworth said, "The world is too much with us," and I spend too much time trying to think "realistically" rather than doing what I know I do best -- write.
Take care -- you're only dead when you no longer want to be alive.
