Wednesday, November 26, 2008

 

Expression is Liberation: Ten Tips for Freeing Your Inner Talent

EXPRESSION AS LIBERATION:
Ten Tips for Freeing Your Inner Talent

Joe works full time as a teacher and manages over 150 middle school students every day. In the evening the last thing he wants is to manage himself or others. He wants to let go and feel relaxed. Once a week he is on stage at a local coffee lounge and frees his soul. Tells jokes, reads a couple poems and gets a round of applause. The freedom he feels in those few moments balance the 40 hours in the class room keeping kids in their seats and following the dictates of the state curriculum for 8th grade history. Joe is not alone. On virtually any night you can find an open mike night. Mild mannered police officer by day and salty tongued comedian by night. You can find young, middle and retirement aged people sharing their story. The old system of kicking around the bars til one is discovered has been blown out. Now performers are expressing that urge to share and to contribute and to create for the intrinsic reward.

There is a direct line to liberation from creative expression. The un-thought, the unsaid, the unsung festers in the soul and can sap energy. Letting it out frees up the spirit and connects with others. The other day I happened to catch a young man trying out his latest jokes. He read from his notes and mostly they fell flat but at the end of his ten minutes he got a round of applause and left the stage smiling. That is success.

In this new, post-modern era of deflated economy and egos and heightened anxiety the new wave that has been building is creative expression. Although little noted this is the wave that is replacing the pursuit of more stuff. Gas prices are high, jobs are low paying yet every one can share their soul today on stage for free. The neighborhood coffee lounge sprouts community and creativity in nearly every town. Indeed this is a very popular outlet in these times where materialism is on the wane. The trend began before the current economic mess and I predict it will pick up steam as people rediscover community and have more time on their hands. In every community across the city and by google search across the country there are open mike nights, poetry slams, comedy nights. All it takes to participate is the courage to stand up and share your stuff. Everyone is accepted. In hundreds of nights at local coffee lounges I have never heard a performer booed. Does not happen. Great smiles usually broadcast from the performer and welcomed by the audience.

Why do people perform and what do they get out of it? In our anonymous world a few moments of absolute (more or less) attention is craved and received. Yet even greater is the reward for expressing, sharing oneself. Sharing an insightful turn of phrase, a sweet melody, a humorous moment is a gift. It lifts the crowd and joins strangers in the crowd. Last night my friend and I walked into a local hot spot of performance and discovered a solo woman plunking out her soul on an out of tune piano. In the back room was a group playing the ancient Chinese board GO. A few college aged people were intently staring at there computer notebooks. Working on a term paper? A potential movie script? This living room has room for everyone. Yet what brings them together is the performance. Some one sharing their story.

Creative expression is a healing and bonding experience. Middle aged soon to retire boomers are filling art classes and the coffee lounge stages. They are not hoping to be discovered and hit lottery. They are here to share their story and their gifts. What draws them? Fame? Not likely. Money? There is none. It is the expression of their inner life and perceptions. In that is the liberation, the freedom that so many have had to push down for 20-30 years in the work world, the parenting world. Expression of the inner story is the key for finding meaning in the last stage of life. Our modern high tech, low touch culture keeps people apart and leads to isolation. The current rage among the youth is texting. Why text when you could as easily make the phone call? I see it as an example of the distancing of people. Yet, they will go to the coffee lounge to be around other people and text or write on their notebook computer.

Artistic calling is innate. We are by nature social beings. The human wants to share his/ her gift. The explosion of blogs is another example. Maximum free expression yields maximum liberation. My ten tips for freeing up one’s creativity and thereby maximizing liberation follows. The main talent required is desire to break out of the prison for drunks that has us hooked on passivity through consumerism, TV, eating and drugs.


Why do people feel the urge to perform? I see several entry points for the undiscovered talents among us.

I. “Where ever You Go There You Are?”

We all have a story that reveals drama, pain, joy, reward, redemption and humanity. Sharing that story is cathartic. It opens one to the common bond we share. Our struggles, our successes are personal and universal. Many people in the audience can touch our stories. We take our story where ever we are and it is a great relief to open that book.

II. Fire Below

Unspoken passions get exposed in the creative process. The unknown fears and yearnings show up when you sit down to write a poem or a song. Perhaps in painting and drawing. I’ve noticed with myself that drumming by myself or in a group can shake up a mood and provide some self awareness.

III. Life is Not a Goal, It Is a Journey

Performance is its own reward. Ask an artist and they will tell you that the act of creation is what impels them. Creativity is a process that can be shared but it is not a destination. Some how after doing it one is relieved as in releasing ballast in a balloon.

IV. Lively Up Yourself

Expression is moving your spirit into new places and in that something wakes up. It can giving meaning to life and you feel alive in body and spirit. Giving it away in a performance is the overt act of sharing.

V. In My Father’s House There are Many Mansions

Many of us live in the too narrow self-concept of either no talent or a special talent. Perhaps it is not important to be specially talented but to simply express oneself even if it is not a gift. Try drawing or singing. Not meeting some arbitrary standard is not the point. Exploring other modes of expression opens new neural pathways of life.

VI. All Together Now

Giving our inspiration is the net cast on the water that pulls people into our life. If even for a moment and then we are sharing our humanity. That experience then leads to more freedom and the one world view. Many times writing the poem in a quiet coffee lounge or in a studio painting group is synergistic.

VII. There Are Many Paths Up the Mountain.
Creative expression is a vehicle but it is not the end. Going to the inner space of revealing something special in your life is what it is about. Each person is different and brings his/ her special perspective and life path to the material.

VIII. I Want Burning

Ego based creativity lacks the juice that pulls in others. Burning the old self concepts social conventions through touching the meta personal offers the hint of the divine that simmers behind the material world.

IX. Rust Never Sleeps.

Stopping the creative energy allows the inertia to control and it is easy for our creative juices to get more than stale. Stuck in park for many years of a narrow career can lead to what I call the “When the boss says jump” syndrome. Waiting for orders and getting stuck in park can be a tough habit to break. Get out the sandpaper and get rid of the rust. Make a commitment to doing your practice at least on a weekly basis, hopefully daily.

X. Sharpen the Saw.
Regular and periodic renewal is mandatory to keep the creative juices flowing. Mental and emotional stimulation encourages a creative approach to life. Empty time of simply hanging in the coffee lounge is highly creative. Turn on the juice and even idle conversation can be fecund time for creativity.

Creativity is the nature of life. Sharing that creative nature is the call of the performer and artist. Feeling bored. Stuck in your ways? Have something to say? Go out to a local open mike night and drink in the creativity. Feel the life that exudes from the performers. The go home and pick up that paint brush, the pen, the dusty old guitar. It is in you too and the world wants to receive your gift. Your unique gift. As Bob Dylan said, “There is no success like failure.” And when you hear the applause you realize there is no such thing as failure.

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