Give Yourself Permission to Play — Part 2

Detail of "Jump" - Creativity Card, Transformational Tarot © Aliyah Marr

The function of play in our own internal development cannot be overemphasized. But I am convinced that play does not have to stop when one becomes an adult. In fact, it becomes even more important to our own on-going personal evolution. Those of us who discover this secret, seem to live charmed, interesting lives.

But whether they are successful business men or happy gardeners, they have one thing in common — they have learned how to continue to play as an adult, they have learned to relax and enjoy the journey of their lives, moment to moment. They have learned to do what I call “follow the energy”– the thread of creativity in their lives that leads to happy pursuits. Joseph Campbell calls this “following your bliss”.

life lived with creativity is like one long recreation period. In this aspect of ourselves as creative beings we mirror the sublime and are most like our essential being. As Cat Stevens wrote in the lyrics  his song “Morning is Broken”, the day is “God’s re-creation, light of a new day”.

An eminent anthropologist wrote in Scientific American that what distinguishes us from other mammals is not our hands or language or toolmaking ability, but our unique drive to create art. I find it very apropos that art in its purest form has no “function”. It does not clothe us or feed us; often it doesn’t make money, in fact it consumes it.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr
(all rights reserved)

Give Yourself Permission to Play — Part 1

Detail of “Jump” – Creativity Card, Transformational Tarot © Aliyah Marr

People a lot talk these days about “creative problem-solving.” But to many artists, creativity isn’t really much about problem-solving at all. Pure creativity (non-commercial art forms) is not about fixing something, but about creating something that wasn’t there before.

In the sphere of pure creativity there are no problems at all — problems are in the realm of those misguided left-brained individuals who are merely trying to think creatively. As Einstein says “you can’t solve a problem with the mind that created it”.

The operative word here is “problem”. In order to truly think creatively, one must return to the mindset of a child. Children play. There are no problems in the world of play, only fun and imagination.

Creativity is play without purpose. Creativity is essentially free play, play free of judgments, free of mental constraints or goals.

This idea is frightening to that part of us — the “adult” self — which is guarding us from the evil of the world, the rigid protector or guard that doesn’t understand that it is no longer functioning as a benign guardian and is actually slowing killing that which it is trying to protect. How many of us feel trapped by our own minds? Isn’t this ennui the real reason for desiring the temporary release that drugs or sex can give us?

Going back to the example of the child playing — is failure even an option? Is success even a goal? Of course that is ridiculous — there is no purpose or goal to play. And the reward is simply the pleasure in the doing.

Fortunately, we can remember what it is like to play, and make it a big part of our lives. Adults, once they are set again on the path of creative play can suddenly feel that the world just suddenly “goes their way” and serendipitous things just start to happen. Somehow, just by allowing oneself to do what one loves, one automatically becomes more skillful at the endeavor.

I have noticed this time and time again when coaching others. The blockage is there only when one regards what one is doing as odious work. Once it is regarded as play, it becomes interesting: once a certain skill in the subject is learned, it even becomes fun.

In the life of a creative child, she wakes up in great anticipation of a day spent playing. She doesn’t anticipate problems or worry about how she will play or arrive at any solutions. She doesn’t plan her play, time it, or even organise it. She just starts. Any decision that she has to make is instantaneous, sometimes unconsciously innovative, always imaginative.

If her decision doesn’t work, she just makes another one. If she had a more specific idea and it doesn’t work out in the way she had foreseen, then she is just as happy to play in a new way suggested by the turn of events. (see “happy accident”). In a world of creativity, the point isn’t any goal or solution, the biggest decision amounts to what one wants to play with next.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

Author Chat With Aliyah Marr August 31st

Library Thing will host an author’s chat with author Aliyah Marr starting August 31st and ending on September 11th, 2009. She will discuss the premise of her book, “Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity,” and will offer creative coaching online during the chat. The chat will be here on August 31st.

http://www.librarything.com/groups/authorchat

Preceding this event, the author is giving away 99 copies in exchange for book reviews. Please join to get your copy of the book and participate in the chat.

The Search for Meaning

Gertrude Stein was on her deathbed, friends gathered around to hear her last words. She whispers, “What is the answer?” Her friends, concerned, anxiously ask her what she is talking about. It’s a few minutes (I imagine) and she says, “Then, what is the question?”

Are You Destined for Greatness?

We all have certain ideas about what success means and how it appears. At one time, I thought that one measure of success was how you deal with stress. Since stress seems unavoidable, happier people seem to have figured out a way to alleviate or even eradicate stress.

So, you could say that I equate success with personal happiness. As for greatness, I know that we can all be great. We all are. Greatness is not a matter of superiority over others, but an internal matter. It is a knowledge that we either have or don’t have. I guarantee that no great genius ever got very far if he thought he was useless and stupid. No, they got there because they knew they were great.

Greatness is not a wish or a desire, it is a deep knowing. A way of succeeding where others might fail. Why do great people do great things? Because it is natural to them. They don’t have a doubt about their abilities. However, their knowledge is not based upon past performance or upon accolades or even upon encouragement from outsiders, although these things can certainly help. When they begin, they have none of those things. None of us do. We all start the journey of evidencing our greatness from the same place.

We don’t have to prove we are great because greatness is natural to our creative selves. Anything that is natural doesn’t have to be proved, it only evidences itself over time. Deep inside all of us is the potential for greatness; you just have to decide to allow yourself to be that which you naturally are. As for success, that is easy once you have that inner knowledge. That knowledge doesn’t come from your brain, but from your heart.

You are great when you listen to your heart.

So I want you to listen to your heart about what makes you great. Never mind that your mind does not believe it, remember it tells you lies all the time about how bad or unsuccessful you are all the time. It has said these things for so long that you have come to believe it.

I am not requiring you to believe me — belief is not important, because belief stays only on the surface of your mind. And because the heart is so much more powerful than the mind, I am talking directly to your heart. Repeat with me:

“Greatness is not my destination, it is my reality.”

Don’t ever be afraid to be good enough to be great.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

Are We There Yet?

The following phrase just popped into my head as I was driving today, “If you are afraid of hitting bottom, you aren’t there yet.”

They say that sometimes you have to hit the bottom before you can start going up again. Maybe you will never hit bottom, but if you ever do, you will have to know that you are there in order to be able to go in another direction. The only way you will know that you have hit the bottom is if you are no longer afraid of hitting it.

Zeno’s paradox says that you can never get to your destination since you can never be halfway there, since “halfway there” is not a constant. Getting halfway there involves an infinite number of operations. One Flash developer used this paradox in mathematical form to make an element move slower and slower on the screen; the graphic never quite got to its destination since it is programmed to only go halfway every time the program goes through its (infinite) loop.

There is a classic underground cartoon character, named Zippy, who was an escapee from a circus. He was the classic “Fool of God,” easily amused by such things as watching the clothes go round and round in the commercial dryer at the laundry mat. While we find it incomprehensible that this might be amusing, is it any less insane to be impatient for your destination.

So I’ll pose the question to you, because it is one that I think occurs to all of us, at least on the unconscious level:

“Are we there yet?”

Maybe it would be better to ask, like Zippy, “Are we having fun yet?”

Copyright Aliyah Marr

Interview With Artist / Designer Sean Kelley

Sean Kelley is an artist / designer who designs and curates art exhibits in San Diego. Recently I interviewed him for my tutorial, Designers with Double Lives, for Graphics.com. He generously gave me more information than I could put in the tutorial. So I decided to post the rest of the interview here as inspiration for readers of Parallel Mind.

How did you get into design and art? Which came first for you?

I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t a hybrid designer/artist, and I usually tend to ignore those labels anyhow. I was always an art nerd, but I grew up around my dad’s architecture studio so his thought process as a designer had a big impact on me (that and legos).

Is there anything special about your process?

Even if I am working with a 2-dimensional surface, I end up creating something more sculptural… A recent discovery of mine that was truly a happy mistake, was the rad texture created by using a power-sander after layering paper and acrylic on heavy.

How are you inspired?

By materials, by nature, by books, and by other artists/designers. I am constantly inspired by the creatives I know.

What is your artist\’s statement for your work at this point in your life?

I have very few goals with my current work; lose myself in experimental processes and materials, keep my eyeballs glued to the pavement for forgotten treasures, and establish world peace. I’ll be happy with 2 out of 3.

As an artist, do you work in one medium or in several? How does your choice affect your life?

Several. It’s almost always sculptural in some way, but it ranges from acrylic on panels to installation and living plant life. If the work requires a lot of space, smells nasty, or gets really messy, my wife gets pissed so I have to get creative with how I work.

My life is better now that I’ve discovered exhibition design.

Where do you work?

I work out of my home… but often I’m moving around and working on site for the events we put together. Our latest show was at Swiv Tackle Circus: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sanctuary143/3470496778/

When is your best time to create?

I love working through the night on art… but I’ll often do design work in the early AM too. Really anytime it’s quiet.

Does your process on one side inform the process on the other?

I’ve been forcing myself to use more handdrawn type and illustration in my design work, but those weren’t a direct result of art I had already done. I guess the act of using a pencil and paper is something in the art side that is informing my design more and more.

What is the difference between design and art?

A designer constantly thinks of the audience. An artist doesn’t necessarily consider the audience. My work as a designer, especially in exhibition design has influenced my installation work, bringing the viewer’s experience to higher importance… This sharp attention to the viewer influenced my “Hustle” installation for Conspire, as I hoped to create a rich sensual experience of light, texture, and sound that could remove the viewer from the art event occurring around them and feel some shred of the moments documented through art/music from my life and the life of my conspirator Josh Shelton.

What wisdom could you give new artists and designers?

Don’t take yourself seriously. Just create.