Elliott's Creative Life Response

 1/30/25 Inquiry Questions: What is creative life? Does it come from within? & Where do thoughts run off to? Creative Life Concepts: Being struck with great ideas, losing ideas, handling yourself, dealing with personal struggles, who or what is your art for and whether or not it says anything directly about you. In Elizabeth Gilbert's TED Talk, she touches on numerous notions and ideas that delve into the creative life, how it works, how to operate, while still managing yourself. She immediately opens by discussing her fear of success, having written a bestseller herself, questioning "Will I ever reach a level of notoriety again? Did my success cripple the rest of my endeavors?" She then details the mystique of wanting to surround one's life within the creative lifestyle and how  one chooses to make such an endeavor, further detailing the complexity of explaining these aspirations to other people, knowing that it is not a common endeavor that is viewed as product...

 1/30/25 Lammot expresses the frustration one experiences when faced with "writer's block," or, the inability to write; however, she insists it is less of an intellectual handicap and more of creating an internal obstacle that can easily be avoided by allowing oneself to take breaks and consider how they are living life. Lammot talks highly of going on walks and taking in the world around you, taking a moment to breathe, rather than just clinging onto the ocean floor. Lammot even uses fun analogies for what creativity is, and how it may be anthropomorphised in one's perception on how they receive it and produce work that actually satisfies them. Whether it be divine gifts from the "writing gods" or the Dr. Seuss-like creature in the attic of your brain cutting film together, you've sometimes got to let them work in peace within your subconscious in order to allow yourself to take breaks. Acknowledge the real world around you, talk to people, and nourish ...

 The notion of ideas and creativity being of a divine, supernatural source is certainly not new, and the author admits this, but it is a total gateway to understanding the appreciation and importance of creativity to one's well being. Ideas do in fact almost spring themselves upon you and it is your choice on whether or not to engage. There is in fact a magical essence to creativity as a whole that the author describes as not being physically natural in our world, and the observation holds true. Oftentimes when faced with an idea, or even a slew of them, I feel as though I am on a different plane of existence. Sudden bursts of energy and optimism overtake the senses and I have strong desire to get back to work. Of course, I agree that times of distress or anger, ideas aren't nourished to the same level as respect as they would otherwise; however, it is sometimes found within those low moments or even in the reflection of them, that an idea can spring... Whether it be a theme, a...

       This passage is wildly important for encouraging creatives to get off of their comforting chair and actually put in the effort to work, despite the common doubts brought on by proposed "savants" throughout history. It encourages readers to engage in "community" by taking advantage of the modern era of instantaneous online communication and collaborate with others that share the same passions and interests as them to hone in on not just their craft, but perhaps be the assistance to someone else's. By doing this, humbling oneself by being an extra hand not only gives the person aid in achieving their goals and aspirations, but also gives you the benefit of understanding of what it is like to work for someone working towards their goal and gives you leverage with communicating ideas once you have others helping you.     Diverse ideas on a project can even aid the final project's quality and relatability, as the more people share perspectives on the crea...

 1-16-25 Nature As Teacher - Reflection Quite personally, I resonate with the whole notion that nature is an incomparable beauty to anything man-made, as I believe it is one of the few things visible that is directly made by God himself. As an Eagle Scout, I personally have a bias to appreciating nature in most forms, whether the weather conditions are considered pleasant or not, because the years of camping experience and memories made within the joy of boyhood provokes this strong sense of nostalgia that gives me no choice but to not forget how to appreciate nature and find beauty within it. One of the great things you can find about nature is that if you are alone within it, you can listen to it. If you need to express anything, it will listen to you. This is not to say that each human is a God-like entity that can make commands on nature, no, but if you learn to listen to it or even just look at it, you can find inner serenity that is otherwise hidden in the bustling world of t...

 I believe that this paragraph could apply to more than just writing, in that as people, we are trained from an early age what the standards of life are, including all things from work, behavior, expression, to education. This leads us to learn all sorts of rules and methods on how to properly format our expressions in order to get our thoughts across, when sometimes, the intimidation that comes from obeying these rules can cause a handicap in the realism our writing has, or, the legitimacy of our expression as human beings.