Carry less
View this email in your browser (|ARCHIVE|)
“Go out into your heart, as onto a vast plain…” –Rainer Maria Wilke (Book of Hours II)
With summer upon us, so too concludes another season of CreativeBoost. A new season of this newsletter arrives in your inbox in September.
In the meantime, I’m leaving soon on a personal journey. And no, that’s not a metaphor.
Preparing for it, I put into practice much of what I talk about in this newsletter.
I keep letting go of goals (http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=89226eb68936fc712577977b8&id=9c1aa70778) and instead name my beliefs and the fears (http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=89226eb68936fc712577977b8&id=a8f2d936e1) they often summon.
All self-limiting things lose some of their power when you give them names. So I move closer to mine. Even when it scares me. And then, especially.
Like any project, I adopted a process (http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=89226eb68936fc712577977b8&id=410a3214f3) to help me define why I’ve taken on this journey, but I’ve let go of the urge to plan every step. Working instead from first principles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_principle) and stopping myself from the arrogant impulse of having to know everything before I experience something.
I draw a circle around the present (http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=89226eb68936fc712577977b8&id=9c9f480d41) as it’s the only thing within my control.
Choosing the traveller’s mindset, the job is much like that of the creative pro. We are at our best when we carry less.
I’ve talked before out how to look at our work as payload (http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=89226eb68936fc712577977b8&id=8baa93a200) . Carry too much and it’s costly. That applies in ways other than just to writing and editing.
We each carry on our backs and in our hearts an accumulation of life’s joys and heartbreaks. At some point, that accumulation has to stop and we sort out what is necessary from what once was, but is no longer.
One last thing: I’m annoyed with myself that there are so many references to “I” in this piece. I try wherever possible to make my message about you, the reader.
But sometimes things just have to be as they are.
See you in September.
Very best, Patrick http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=|URL:MC_SUBJECT|: |URL:ARCHIVE_LINK_SHORT| Tweet (http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=|URL:MC_SUBJECT|: |URL:ARCHIVE_LINK_SHORT|) http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=|URL:ARCHIVE_LINK_SHORT| Share (http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=|URL:ARCHIVE_LINK_SHORT|)
============================================================ |IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE| |LIST:DESCRIPTION|
Our mailing address is: |LIST_ADDRESS| |END:IF|
unsubscribe from this list (|UNSUB|) update subscription preferences (|UPDATE_PROFILE|)
|IF:REWARDS| |REWARDS_TEXT| |END:IF|