The Gift of Creative Inspiration

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Sometimes in life you get handed a gift that leaves you truly feeling seen. A few days ago I was lucky enough to have that experience happen to me. 

I have some truly magical people in my life. People who inspire me with their beautiful way of being in the world. My dear friend Julia Aplin is one of those people. 

Julia’s a dancer and choreographer by trade, but a cackling creative witch by spirit. I’ve been lucky enough to have had Julia in my life for almost two decades now, and in that time I have been touched by the creative magic that she brings into the world. Everything from a fully choreographed dance piece featuring two dancers performing in blow up kiddie pools, to an amazing gathering a few months ago where she gave us cackling lessons while surrounded by the light of an urban backyard fire pit. 

Julia’s amazing blow up kiddie pool dance piece “Inner City Sirens Part 2”

Recently I had a big birthday and as a gift Julia handed me an old tin finger paint box. I honestly didn’t quite know what to make of it when I first saw it, but then I opened it and what I found inside delighted me to no end.

The big reveal

Inside the box was a collection of carefully folded pieces of paper, each with a quote about creativity. For the last few days I’ve been using this present as a practice, when I feel like I need a dose of inspiration, then into the tin I go. 

And if this newsletter resonates with you, then it’s something that I have a sneaking suspicion you might appreciate too. 

So without further adieu, and in a completely randomly selected order, I’d like to share with you the quotes that live inside this amazing tin box. 

“An artist never really finishes his work, he merely abandons it.”

• Paul Valery

“Creativity has more to do with the elimination of the inessential than with inventing something new”

• Helmut Jahn

“I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don’t need”

• Auguste Rodin

“You must not for one instant give up on the effort to build new lives for yourselves. Creativity means to push open the heavy, groaning doorway to life.”

• Daisaku Ikeda

“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint’, then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” 

• Vincent Van Gogh

“The thing about creativity is that people are going to laugh at it. Get over it.”

• Twyla Tharp

“Creativity is always a leap of faith. You’re faced with a blank page, blank easel, or an empty stage.” 

• Julia Cameron

“Your ego can become an obstacle to your work. If you start believing in your greatness, it is the death of your creativity.”

• Marina Abramovic

“I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn’t photograph them.”

• Diane Arbus

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.”

• Steve Jobs

“The artist produces for the liberation of his soul. It is his nature to create as it is the nature of water to run down the hill.”

• W. Somerset Maugham

“I’m afraid that if you look at a thing long enough, it loses all of its meaning.”

• Andy Warhol

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.”

• Scott Adams

“Creativity is habit, and the best creativity is the result of good work habits.”

• Twyla Tharp

“Love the art in yourself and not yourself in the art.”

• Constantin Stanislavski

“Dance first, think later.”

• Samuel Beckett

“Creativity itself doesn’t care at all about results - the only thing it craves is the process. Learn to love the process and let whatever happens next happen, without fussing too much about it. Work like a monk, or a mule, or some other representative metaphor for diligence. Love the work. Destiny will do what it wants with you regardless.”

• Elizabeth Gilbert

“Only those that risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

• T.S. Eliot

“Inspiration comes and goes, creativity is the result of practice.”

• Phil Cousineau

“I’ll go wherever my creativity takes me.”

• L’il Wayne

Over the last week I’ve found myself dipping into this box of quotes at times when inspiration feels particularly hard to come by. Moments when I have felt unmotivated and uninspired. Having these small reminders that creativity is a hard won practice, but also so worth it, has proven to be the boost that those moments desperately crave.

We should all be lucky enough to have a friend like Julia who is able to gift this kind of magic.

Are there quotes about creativity that you’ve come across that have helped guide you? Or maybe just ones you really really like? We’d love to hear them! Please feel free to add them in the comments below!

Steve’s friend Larry Gaudet has just written a new novel called Eris that just got a pretty stellar review in The Toronto Star. It sounds like a fascinating read!