Easy Does It

I like this meme. It comes from Maria with the following instructions:

Grab the book closest to you.
Open to page 123 and go down to the fifth sentence.
Post the text of next 3 sentences on your blog.
Name the book and the author.
Tag three people.

They demonstrate the true relationship between inspiration and perspiration and that, as Thomas Edison once observed, creativity (or a calling) is 2 percent illumination and the rest love and discipline. We are each Ulysses, lashed to the mast and ravished by the Sirens' song, and we are also his crew, ears plugged for safekeeping, bent over our oars and surely wondering who is the more dereft, Ulysses for having to hear the song or ourselves for being unable to.

All artistic practices, says writer Bharati Mukherjee, are "satellite dishes for hearing the signals the soul sends out," and each art form individually offers unique contributions to the work of decerning calls.

So there it is. This is from a book called Callings: "Finding and Following an Authentic Life" by Gregg Levoy. It comes from a chapter entitled "The Portals of Art".

I am compelled to add my two cents that creativity is mandatory, not optional. It doesn't matter if your creative self paints or writes or plays music or tickles children or cuts out paper dolls, but it does matter that you allow your heart and head sufficient time to do what you love. If you don't, it's my belief that true happiness will evade you. And the research scientists bear me out on this one.

Hey, Maria, I liked this meme. Thank you.