I dropped some knowledge . . .
On David B. Coe’s blog!
In Hamilton, Laurens sings, “Well, if ain’t the prodigy of Princeton College. Aaron Burr, give us a verse, drop some knowledge.”
Burr declines. “You spit. I’ll sit.”
I Jumped at the Chance
I, however, didn’t decline! Nope, when given the chance I contributed a column called “Down Time is Not Wasted Time” on David B. Coe’s blog. I really appreciated the opportunity.
Here’s the link.
Key Concept
Here’s the key concept: You aren’t going to get your best ideas while at the computer. You’ll get them in the shower, or while out for a walk.
There’s a reason for this and it is related to how the brain works. So, be ready to capture your ideas whenever, and wherever, they hit you.
While I talked here about writing, the same advice is applicable for all creatives.
Why Art?
I like Brene Brown’s books, and if you haven’t checked them out, you really should. Or, at least her Ted Talks, which are some of the most googled Ted talks in the world. You can check out “The power of vulnerability,” here.
I’m listening to her new book “Braving the Wilderness,” and one of the things she said brought me to a standstill. It was this, “Art has the power to render sorrow beautiful, make loneliness a shared experience and transform despair into hope. Only art can take the holler of a returning soldier and turn it into a shared expression and a deep collective experience. Music, like all art, gives pain in our most wrenching emotions voice, language and form so it can be recognized and shared.”
That last sentence, “art gives pain in our most wrenching emotions voice, language and form so it can be recognized and shared,” made me turn off the audiobook and just think. (I kept peddling though. I was on the exercise bike.
This is exactly right. Art is the medium through which we experience shared emotion. Guilt, Joy, Grief, Happiness, Envy–these aren’t White emotions or Black emotions or Latino emotions. They’re human emotions. This is why music from another culture can hit us so deeply. Or a book translated from another language can make us laugh out loud.
Down Time is Not Wasted Time
Art is important. But if we don’t build in the time and relaxation needed to receive inspiration, our well will run dry.
Down time is not wasted time. It is a necessary part of the process, which allows us to create and share emotion, our very humanity. Give yourself the space.
