Big Magic

I just finished reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s new book Big Magic – Creative living beyond fear. The author of Eat Pray Love is back with an autobiography if you will, about the personal journey we all share with creativity and the process of birthing new things into the world. Be it writing, music, art, theatre or whatever calls to your passion and curiosity. She feels we are selected by this mysterious force of creativity to be a channel for its inception into being. Call it what you will, Universal mind, Spirit or merely inspiration. It is our job to remain an open channel for its offering. And not be waylaid or sidetracked by the myriad of things and situations we encounter in life. The primary impediment being fear. Big Magic is a heartfelt, soul bearing book about her own and others experiences with this process. She even has a story related to her by Ketut, her shaman teacher from Eat Pray Love. 
I totally resonated with her approach and investigations into the process of creativity and I highly recommend this very good read. (I was drawn to the cover of the book which refers to Holi, the Indian Festival of Color!) She writes from a unique and honest perspective and concludes the book by reiterating, not to allow ourselves to be consumed by angst and struggle, but to be light and open to our calling:

 
"Creativity is sacred, and it is not sacred. What we make matters enormously, and it doesn’t matter at all. We toil alone, and we are accompanied by spirits. We are terrified, and we are brave. Art is a crushing chore and a wonderful privilege. Only when we are at our most playful can divinity finally get serious with us. Make space for all these paradoxes to be equally true inside your soul, and I promise – you can make anything. So please calm down and get back to work, okay? The treasures that are hidden inside you are hoping you will say yes.”
 
To learn more go to: http://www.elizabethgilbert.com

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