Articles from metaphor
The Third Body and the Material World
Imagination is commonly thought of as something that lives within us, more precisely in our heads. But the body also participates in creative imagination, as does the material world around us. Transitioning from the comfort of one’s imagination to the limitations inherent in the material world is challenging. However, rendering our ideas in the physical world also enhances your imagination. The resistance we encounter from the materials in our chosen medium sparks our imagination. Creativity is what we make of our imagination, of our thoughts, of our self. The way forward is always through the work.
“More About You” Annual Review Workbook(2022–2023 Edition)
We live in a time of astounding opportunities and bewildering challenges that can knock us off our intended path in life. Learning to navigate in these times can be hard. The annual personal year in review exercise reconnects you with your values, highlights your recent successes, and sharpens your focus on your goals for the year ahead. The review process helps you put your past year in perspective and turn toward the year to come. It won’t erase or even diminish the pains of the past year, but it will help you lay stepping stones toward a more productive and satisfying year to come.
More About You!
It’s a fact: 2021 has been challenging. Many of us feel like we’re drifting—buffeted by uncertain winds. Learning to navigate in these times is hard. But there are tools that can help. The personal “year in review” exercise is one. It strengthens your ability to navigate uncertain times. This annual ritual reconnects you with your values and goals, highlights your recent successes, and sharpens your focus on your goals for the year ahead. The review process helps you put your past year in perspective and turn toward the year to come. It’s not magic—it won’t erase or even diminish the pains of the past year—but it will help you lay the stepping stones for a better year to come.
Is It Good? Developing and Using Your Aesthetic
Self-directed creative work is different from other forms of creative work. Typically, there’s not a list of specifications you can check off on your way to “done.” Success in creative endeavors can only be measured by the recognition that the work is “good,” that it satisfies the creator’s intention—your intention. “Good” is not the same as “perfect” or “finished,” in the sense that all possible improvements have been explored and closed, but “good” is sufficient. How do you know when your work is good? You use your aesthetic: the collection of formal, material, intellectual, functional, emotional, and spiritual qualities that please you.
The Creative's Mindset
Deciding to make creativity a core pillar of your life changes your relationship to the world around you. It changes how you prioritize and spend your time and (perhaps most importantly) your long-term relationship to your creative work. A life centered around creativity requires the adoption and cultivation of what I call the creative’s mindset.
Your One Precious Creative Life
No matter how engaged we are in our creative work, occasionally we find ourselves asking “Why am I doing this?” This question comes up regardless of how much recognition we’re getting for our work. It’s natural and necessary to wonder what you’re doing with your one precious life.
Your Creativity is Your Passport
Everyone who earns a degree in the arts—creative or applied—is really graduating with a double major: one that honors their skills in their chosen area of creative expression and a second that recognizes their achievement in mastering a set of creative-thinking and problem-solving skills.
Celebrating Creativity
We often classify people (and ourselves) as either creative or not creative, based on the type of work that’s produced. But these broad categorizations paper over the telling details that demonstrate creativity.