By Chantal Ford — 2020
Do we realize just how much of an influence music really has on us and our cultural identity?
Read on www.contiki.com
CLEAR ALL
very often even the most talented and intelligent artists don’t see their positive qualities and achievements from an objective perspective. They notice their weaknesses and fail to attain their objectives. In my opinion, most artists could use a lesson on how to improve self-esteem.
Artists encounter unique challenges. They are required to continually make new work that feels original and significant, but not too close to that of their peers and predecessors. They encounter public audiences that are quick to deem contemporary art esoteric or absurd.
Taking a modern look at a millennia-old concept. We experience the "flow state" when a given task becomes effortless and time slips by without our noticing. The concept has appeared in many ancient philosophies like Stoicism and Taoism, and modern research has confirmed this experience is real.
Many of us know what it’s like to be in a state of creative flow. Do you have to wait for inspiration to strike, or can you hack ‘the zone’?
You have what it takes to make art, if you make the choice to take what it takes. None of us knows whether our work will end up being great or not great, remembered or forgotten.
The concept of the flow, or being in the zone for an artist, is very much like the state an athlete achieves (or strives to achieve) for peak performance. It’s that place beyond all the effort, where time is meaningless and everything just flows.
How could I come home to my refugee parents, who worked seven days a week in their grocery store, and tell them that I wanted to read Jane Austen and the Romantic poets, and major in English, a language they didn’t speak in their own home?
I was one year into my Biology degree when I realized my passion in life was art. However, I knew my parents wouldn’t approve of me being an artist. If you’re on the same boat, keep reading.
As we peer around the corner of the pandemic, let’s talk about what we want to do—and not do—with the rest of our lives.
1
it's not just a stereotype of the "tortured artist" -- artists really may be more complicated people. Research has suggested that creativity involves the coming together of a multitude of traits, behaviors and social influences in a single person.