Courtney Martin examines the "tragic gaps" in the creative life — between our hard realities and what we dream is possible.
creativity
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Rejection is hard. When it happens, it’s important to not let it stifle your creativity, your work, your vision for what you want the world to be.
Musician Zola Jesus chose her stage name as an atheist teenager, but as her career has progressed, its religious connotations have shed light on the place that music commands in her life — as an exercise in meaning-making, an outlet for expressing and exploring the existential questions of life.
To find peace in a lack of answers can be unexpected — especially coming from a Bible scholar like Pastor Eugene Peterson.
Do we second-guess ourselves to the point of poisoning the trust in our own abilities?
Sometimes we need to trick our hearts to make great art — and do the things that most scare us.
For those of us who adore our daily forms of labor, work doesn't stop when the office closes. Mohammed Fairouz makes the case for obsession, and work as prayer and mystery and play.
Being a published writer, especially of books, is a celebrated marker of accomplishment in our culture. But is it the only way to leave our mark? Courtney Martin with some helpful advice for the struggling writer, or for uncovering a better channel for our creative drive.
We often think of "genius" as a belonging to individuals, not as something nurtured by community. Courtney Martin challenges this idea, thinking back on the writers group that continues to inspire her work today.
In an age of iPhone and Instagram ubiquity, we capture and curate in ways unimaginable only a few decades ago. And this connects us in unexpected ways. But, it also can have a cost, one that pulls us out of the moment.
When the crush of a beige cubicle and endless meetings deaden creative impulses, a newborn baby girl prompts an explosion of creativity — and the celebratory, enthusiastic person the author's dream job had taken away.
So often in the West we believe that the most genius works of art are created with suffering and torment. But, the Dalai Lama might say happiness is the foundation of great creativity of all kinds.
When we get too attached to habits, we risk losing our sense of wonder and our potential for catalytic experience. Courtney Martin's encouragement for the job of being alive: “May I see what I do. May I do it differently. May I make this a way of life.”
To be human is to live with paradox and hold it in our hands. Parker Palmer offers some grounding advice on creating more spaces to do so gracefully — and a poem by May Sarton.
Parker Palmer draws inspiration from the words of Wendell Berry on celebrating one's obstacles and the impeded stream that sings.
A musician serendipitously gets reacquainted with an old track while listening to physicist Brian Greene talk about our lack of free will.
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