The Creativity Book: A Year's Worth of Inspiration and Guidance (Maisel, 2000)

The Creativity Book: A Year's Worth of Inspiration and Guidance (Maisel, 2000)

71 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb guidance, not for the lazy!, October 28, 2001
By M. Smith "cenmad" (Virginia, USA)

Maisel consistently challenges the artist to be true to his/her artistic self in all his books, and this is no exception. Unlike The Artist's Way (a fine book for the creatively blocked or undiscovered), The Creativity Book targets the artist who has achieved a higher degree of self-knowledge and acceptance. He asks the reader to choose a Dream early in the year, which will be accomplished as the year unfolds. Each week highlights an aspect of living as a creative being, and includes exercises to clear the way to living more fully. The exercises range from easy (have a morning and evening tea ritual for three days) to much harder (sit for 40 minutes and do NOTHING), but the difficulty will doubtless vary for each reader.

Maisel has a no-holds-barred style that doesn't permit excuses, whining, or hedging. His message is simple: one must actively pursue the muse at all times, and embrace her when she appears. You don't HAVE to do any of the exercises, although he'd like you to do them all. He makes it clear, however, that choosing not to do the exercises is also a clear statement of your degree of commitment to your Dream, which ultimately boils down to art.

If you're looking for coddling, this is the wrong book. But if you're ready to be gently but firmly led to create as you know you can "if only...", Maisel removes the "if only..." and leaves you with a fuller, more satisfying relationship with your artistic self.

p.5 As a creativity consultant, psychotherapist, and college teacher, I've learned that virtually everyone finds it hard to nurture and unleash his or her creativity... These obstacles are real and significant. But people discover that they can begin.

p.11 When an everyday creative person has an interesting idea pop into her head and she stops to write it down, rather than letting it slip away, that is a small ritual acknowledging the importance of her own ideas.

p.19 it is vital that the chaos of ideas that start to flood your brain when you open up to your own creativity have a place to be sorted and saved. If you don't give them that chance, then chaos overwhelms you and no work can get accomplished.

p.62 When you obsessively think about you, that is self-consciousness. Self-consciousness kills creativity.

p.80 Imagine a big Dumpster... Then take a look at the following list. On it are some (but not all) of the kinds of mental trash that it is in our best interest to lose. Choose three items you'd like to eliminate from your own mind. fear, anger, anxiety, doubt, guilt, irritability, ego, memories of failure, envy, lack of confidence

p.151-152 We make lots of mistakes in life, including some very painful ones. We often slip and fall. If we aren't careful, these slips thoroughly dispirit us and block us. Therefore, as an everyday creative person, you will need to do three things: pick yourself up when you slip, affirm that you're continuing to create, and figure out how that banana peel got there in the first place. The more you understand why you slipped, the better chance you have to prevent some future pratfalls.

p.262 Everyday creative people go to bed thinking about their music, painting, writing, or scientific theories. They take to bed with them the musical problem that confounded them at four in the afternoon, so that their brain can solve it at night when worries about unpaid bills are forgotten for a while.

p.283 When you see everything through the lens of creativity, when you live life as an everyday creative person, you create as a matter of course. Creating becomes the most natural thing in the world, as natural as breathing. If a problem arises at work, you attempt to solve it creatively - and usually you do.

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