WANT

I've had two little serendipitous moments while reading recently that have caused me to re-evaluate my approach to creativity. I was perusing one of my favorite catalogs (Isabella) and came across a book that intrigued me, The Trance of Scarcity by Victoria Castle. I haven't read it yet but it's about the myths of "lack" and "not good enough" that pervade our culture. Later, I was reading The Viewpoints Book by Anne Bogart and Tina Landau. I'll quote a little here: "In a culture governed by commodities, consumption and the glorification of the individual, we are taught to target what we want and then find a way to get it...like a hunter after prey, our vision is narrowed down to a preconceived series of possibilities."

It's got me thinking about how my of my time and energy is given over to pursuing what I want. I evaluate my creative work by how successfully I've manifested what I "wanted." Does that photograph capture what I wanted to say, am I satisfied with this poem - is it what I wanted, did I give the director what he wanted...! Think of the rich possibilities I haven't even noticed because I was so focused on what I wanted. What a relief it would be to put down all that DESIRE and just see what's here now in this moment.