“When inspiration does not come to go me, I go halfway to meet it.” ~ Sigmund Freud
Twyla Tharp quotes Freud in her book The Creative Habit. I read this book about two years ago and worked through the exercises faithfully. I flipped through it again last weekend, reading about my creative journey through the eyes of my 32-year old self.
Two years ago, I wanted to find more outlets for my writing. That’s happened to an even greater extent than I imagined, though not by accident, or hoping for that good fortune to find me. I had to go out there, dig it up, and then persist, persist, persist. I had to risk rejection and all that comes with it in the hopes that there would be some breaks here and there.
I followed a lot of leads to a very dead end, and considered just throwing in the towel. “Maybe the world doesn’t need my voice,” I thought more times than I’ll ever admit. And then here and there I got a bit of encouragement, which helped me to keep trudging out there again for more inspiration and more leads. Creativity, writing, hope, inspiration – they are all more easily cultivated with practice.
This has been true of my yoga teaching as well. I tried lots of avenues to get regular gigs, but the work didn’t come pouring in as I had hoped. This was going to harder than I thought. Stubbornness can pay off. It keeps us reaching up, even when the world seems to be pushing us down. On occasion, good luck shows up on our doorstep, but more often it’s up to us to get out there and discover it. Recognizing luck in all its disguises requires preparedness. Eventually a few things broke and now I teach at NY Methodist Hospital and Columbia Law School, with a possible third regular gig on the way. (More info to come if that pans out.)
I used to think of inspiration as a thunderbolt that reaches me at my dining table in front of this laptop. Sometimes that does happen, but more often it’s sparked by something I’ve witnessed or done outside these safe haven walls of my home. Being out in the world more by walking Phineas, my pup, has helped me see the gifts that lie just around the corner, literally. So now when I find that inspiration just isn’t flowing, I don’t get frustrated. I just pick myself up out my my chair, and go get it.
Christa Avampato 