Bill Small’s Blog

Elizabeth Gilbert says…..

“It’s not the world’s fault you want to be an artist, now shut up and get back to work.”

First of all, watch this……

Creativity. If you haven’t noticed, it’s a subject I’m very interested in. I love this video with Elizabeth Gilbert. I read her book, ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ several months agao and found it not only an enjoyable read, but it made a difference for me as well. Obviously I’m not alone in this as millions of people have read it. The book not only had me dreaming of world travel, but it did get me back doing some regular meditation for awhile and I found myself intrigued by the whole idea and writing style of the book.

So, it was extra cool to run across this video. I posted it on my Facebook page right after I watched it and some great responses. Beyond being a strong reminder for me to get on with it and do my work, I love the way Ms. Gilbert languages and thinks about creativity. In the first half of her talk, she talks about being afraid of the work and the mental health and well being of artists. The being afraid part really resonates with me. Who hasn’t been afraid that what they’re creating won’t be well received? I’ve had times where it was much easier to concentrate on getting more paying work or cleaning the house than to write a song or even a little old blog post.

And the whole suffering artist thing! I hate that. That kind of thinking has been screwing things up forever and gives a lot of artists a great cop out on success.  But I never really looked at what the source of it might be. I find Ms. Gilbert’s explanation as plausible as anything else and it feels good to think that you can change the way you look at your own creative power.

As a coach I do a lot of work with people around their creativity. One of the biggest points of Ms. Gilbert’s talk is the age old idea that our creativity is more of a conduit than some magical ability that come soley from the individual. That when you are in the creative “flow” you are receiving information from the universe, the divine, the source, God, or “Genius” as the Romans put it. Not only does that take the pressure off of the modern day tortured artist, but isn’t that state something that anyone would want to be in. To be in the creative flow of life?

To put it in energetic terms, when you are in the creative flow you are in the energy of abundance. You are connected to the source of abundance. So the more you are in that energy, the more you will attract things in your life that line up with it. So rather than spending time trying to figure out how to get wherever it is you want to go, create! Whether it’s a fine meal, a song, a picture, a job, a relationship, a clean house, you can create it. Creativity knows no limits. So create, create, create!

For more on Elizabeth Gilbert:

http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/

Elizabeth Gilbert on writing:

http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/writing.htm

For more on TED talks:

http://www.ted.com

For more on creativity, check out my new tele-seminar series The Artistry of Life:

http://www.creativeartistcoaching.com/coaching_offer.html

Techno Cool

I’m in a coffee shop doing some work with my friend and marketing guru Bryant Jones and I’m writing this post…. on my phone!!

I love this stuff. Bryant and I are putting the finishing touches on the web page for my new seminar, The Artistry of Life. Alan Ray and I will be conducting this 6 week tele seminar on creativity and creating your life just like a painter paints and a writer writes.

I’ll have a link for the page up soon, but I couldn’t resist trying out the phone blog!

the Law of Attraction

What is all this Law of Attraction business anyway?

One of the things I do these days when I’m not touring, performing, writing or in the studio is I coach people in the Law of Attraction. I’m what you might call a life coach or a success coach. I’ve been participating in personal development courses for years. I’ve coached a lot of people both as a vocal coach and a life coach. It’s one of the ways I get to make a difference in the world and contribute to people.

For people who primarily know me as a musician it raises a question or two when they find out that I also work as a coach. One of those questions is, “What is this Law of Attraction stuff anyway?” Simply stated, like attracts like in the universe. That’s the Law of Attraction. What does that mean to us and our lives? Well, look at it like this. What you put out is what you get back. What you focus on is what you attract. The Law of Attraction is at work all the time. We are creating our lives, our reality all the time. Sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously. You might ask again, “So what does that mean to me?” Well, it means that you have the power to create your life, your work, your relationships any way you want. This can take some effort. It’s not the way most of us are used to looking at our lives. Sometimes it helps to have someone outside of you to speed the process. That’s what I do as a coach.

If you want to know more about the Law of Attraction, there are some great resources out there. If you haven’t seen the Secret, that’s a great place to start. I’ll keep writing about it here and I also recommend books by Bob Doyle, Joe Vitale and Eckart Tolle. There are many more as well. Look into it. You may like what you see.