(5) The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin (Full Audiobook) - YouTube

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• for example you can try an anger relasing exercise where you beat on a pillow for 5 minutes it's more difficult than you might think to do this for the full duration time yourself and go hard then immediately fill five pages with whatever comes out the 36:25 objective is to not think about it to avoid directing the content in any way just write whatever words spill forth there's an abundant reservoir of high quality information in our subconscious and finding ways to access it can spark new material to draw from the psyche has admittance to a universal wisdom deeper than what we can come up with in our conscious mind it provides a far less limited view an oceanic Source we don't know how it works and we don't know why it works yet many artists tap into 36:58 something Beyond themselves without recognizing the process at play purely through accessing the subconscious often reaching these states is outside of our control

• trans-like conditions bypass the thinking part of the brain and access the dream state there's great wisdom in transitional Realms between wakefulness and sleep right before you fall asleep what thoughts and ideas come to you how do you feel when you wake 37:33 from a dream in the wisdom

• artists we seek to restore our childlike perception a more innocent State of Wonder and appreciation not Tethered to utility or survival our filter inevitably reduces Source intelligence by interpreting the data that arrives instead of letting it pass freely as the vessel fills with these recast fragments relationships are created with the material already collected these relationships produce belief beliefs and stories they may be about who we are the people around us and the nature of the world we live in eventually these 15:38 stories coales into a world view as artists we want to hold these stories softly and find space for the vast amount of information that doesn't fit easily within the limits of our belief system the more raw data we can take in and the less we shape it the closer we get to Nature

• all the while noticing the patterns the universe is promoting

• if you see tremendous beauty or tremendous pain where other people see little or nothing at all you're confronted with big feelings

• lower the stakes

• some things are too important to be taken seriously art is one of those things setting the bar low especially to get started frees you to play explore and test without attachment to results this is not just a path to more supportive thoughts active play in experimentation until we're happily surprised is how the best work reveals itself another approach to overcoming insecurities

• there are always good reasons not to continue

• Source makes available the filter distills The Vessel receives and often this happens beyond our control

• no matter what tools you use to create the true instrument is you and through you the universe that that surrounds us all comes into Focus

• look for Clues material for our work surrounds us at every turn it's woven into conversation nature chance encounters and existing works of art when looking for a solution to a creative problem pay close attention to what's happening around you look for Clues pointing to new methods or ways to further develop current ideas a writer may be in a coffee shop working on a scene and unsure what a character is going to say next

• look for what you notice but no one else sees

• take a daily walk in nature looking at everything entering our field of vision with gratitude and connection take a moment to Marvel at the feeling of our heartbeat and the movement of blood through our veins before sleep

• the purpose of such exercises is not necessarily in the doing just as the goal of meditation isn't in the 25:49 meditating the purpose is to evolve the way we see the world when we're not engaged in these acts we are building the musculature of our psyche to more acutely tune in this is so much of what the work is about awareness needs constant refreshing if it becomes a habit even a good habit it will need to be reinvented again and again until one day you notice that you are always in the practice of awareness at all times in all places living your life in a state of constant openness to receiving living life as an artist is a 26:26 practice you're either engag enging in the practice or you're not it makes no sense to say you're not good at it it's like saying I'm not good at being a monk you're either living as a monk or you're not we tend to think of the artist's work as the output the real work of the artist is a way of being in the world

• in service of this robust Instinct consider submerging yourself in the cannon of great works read the finest literature watch the masterpieces of Cinema get up close to the most infuential paintings visit architectural landmarks there's no standard list no one has the same measures of greatness the cannon is continually changing across time and space nonetheless exposure to great art 27:43 provides an invitation it draws us forward and opens doors of possibility

• reading classic literature every day for a year rather than reading the news by the end of that time period you'll have a more hone sensitivity for recognizing greatness from the books than from the media

• even if your goal is to make fast food it will likely taste better if you experience the best fresh food available to you

• the objective is not to learn to mimic 28:52 greatness but to calibrate our internal meter for greatness so we can better make the thousands of choices that might ultimately lead to our own great work

• inspiration to be found Outdoors

• you can't step into the same stream twice because it's always flowing