Seducing the Art
Hello hello,
Today’s dispatch will be shorter than usual, as my time this week has been devoted to the completion of a project that has been in the works since February! (??? how has it been this long??)
If you’ve missed this news, I will tell you now! This Friday, I’ll be releasing the physical copy of A Guide to Self Guided Meditations. It has nine sections and 12 visual/mantra based meditations. Along with the booklet, I’m putting out a series of ambient tracks that you can listen to as you guide yourself through each meditation.
I thought of the concept when I was working in a kitchen for my friend’s tiny candy business. At the time I was the only employee outside of the husband and wife that owned the company.
As I was labeling the plastic square containers for the day’s batch, it occurred to me that we’ve been trained to look outside of ourselves in almost every aspect of our life. With social media, anyone can put themselves on a pedestal or be hoisted up on one. Having an audience is part of our everyday life.
To some extent has been going on since the beginning of time, but now the possibilities are now totally endless. It’s like looking at everything through a kaleidoscope. The result is dizzying, at times dazzling and ultimately untethered from reality.
With the internet accelerating our ability to connect, we have an impossible standard for creation now. It’s as if we believe we can jump three squares up in a board game and grab all the pieces with one spin of a wheel.
Making things takes time. Communing with creation is a holy act.
As much as I talk about ease, creating is not always easy. Consistency of effort is what leads to fully realized ideas. If you’re lucky, you’ll show up to do your thing and it will feel like flying. You’ll feel like the only person in the world (in a good way). Colors fly by your face and wind rushes past your skin, lighting up the hairs on your forearms.
But usually it’s just sitting down at a desk and not moving for an hour or so.
Asking and asking and asking. Being willing to receive when a response comes in. Putting in the time to sharpen your skills so you can accommodate the answer.
Creative inspiration is like an illusive lover from a one night stand. You might think about them all the time and hope for a fateful call in the middle of the night. Pining for the unexpected becomes part of the process.
Actual progress is what comes when you develop a relationship with creativity. You take it out for dinner once, maybe there’s dancing. Soon you’ll start cooking meals at home together. You listen to each other’s worries and check them when they’re being too hard on themselves. Oftentimes you’ll fall asleep on the couch and toddle into bed at 3AM. Try to remember to kiss good night to make things more ceremonious.
It’s full of simple rituals and showing up because you’ve made the choice to be there.
I’ll leave you with a quote from one of my favorite books, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. In it he writes about how to defeat resistance, the force that tries to prevent us from creating meaningful work. The first time I read it was in senior year of high school and it inspires me to this day.
“The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.
Why is this so important?
Because when we sit down day after day and keep grinding, something mysterious starts to happen. A process is set into motion by which, inevitably and infallibly, heaven comes to our aid. Unseen forces enlist in our cause; serendipity reinforces our purpose.
This is the other secret that real artists know and wanna writers don’t. When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us. The Muse takes note of our dedication. She approves. We have earned favor in her sight. When we sit down and work we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filing. Ideas come Insights accrete.
Just as Resistance has its seat in hell, so Creation has its home in heaven. And it’s not just a witness but an eager and active ally.”
Thanks for tuning in, if you want to get a copy of A Guide to Self Guided Meditations, it will be available on Friday at goteamjames.com
xx,
James
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